A Kingdom Hearts Meeting
by IkaDeidaraClayGirl
Summary: Friends separated, freaks separated, and a destructive warning. What will happen?
1. New Beginning for a Story left Unfinishe

**Ika's note: I do not own this story. My friend, whom we will call Livited, asked me to publish this story because for various reasons she isn't allowed to put it under her own name. So if anyone comments on it, I will forward the comments to her. Please don't flame - constructive criticism only.**

**And neither of us own the characters - except Livited owns the OCs. **

**Chapter 1 **

**New Beginning for a Story left Unfinished**

**By Livited**

_Z__zzz _he slept soundly.

A beautiful island during a sunny afternoon was where children's laughter invades. There, on a small islet, lay a boy on the sand whose adventures seemed firmly done.

_**Wishing to see the unknown, he and his friends' wishes were granted, but in a strange way were they made. Split apart, he vowed to find his friends and be together again. One of them whose pure heart was stolen, another one turned to darkness for hopes of finding the stolen heart, and the boy who was left with nothing but himself. One would think it would drive someone mad, but this boy had justice and a strong heart to help him find his own light. There, he found his strength. With this strength, he gained allies and helped others find their light. Most importantly, he found and helped his dear friends. **_

_**Unfortunately, he also had to say goodbye to his dear friend who had her heart stolen, seeing as how the one who returned from darkness was gone, and he had to search for him. So as the two parted, another journey began for the boy and his two new comrades.**_

_**Faced with a castle, the three fighters went inside to face a great threat to their own precious memories. As false hopes became true, some wanted to help, while others purposes' were unknown. Going through it all, the boy stayed true to his heart, even if his truth was false. From that, he was able to find someone who would help make up for what she had started, and so she began to restore the threesomes' memories. **_

_**Time passed, their memories were restored, and they met new people and old friends while still headstrong in their journey of their friends. **_

_**When found, all the misunderstandings and confusions were cleared, and they finally were able to go home. **_

_**Helping that which was nothing, now became whole, and after facing the most greatest of threats in the darkness, light, and the nothing, the boy was finally able to rest, and return to his island home where he may spend the rest of his life in happiness and relaxation. **_

And so he sleeps.

The wind began to find its way onto the islet, swaying the tropical trees gently forward. The water from the beach slowly moving from his feet back down into the tide, the boy began to drift his eyelids up from his dreamy slumber.

"Hey, Sora. You awake yet?" Riku walked up casually to him as he lifted his hand to wave.

Sora yawned.

"What day is it?" Sora asked, dreary faced and preparing to wince just in case it was Sunday.

Sundays always meant he had to go back to school on Monday, to make up for all the work he missed on the year he went away.

"Saturday."

Sora gave Riku a big teeth-showing grin, going "Cheese" as Riku started to laugh.

Then he began to smash his cheeks with his hands while Riku sat down, still laughing.

"Sora, you're always like this when you wake up: either funny or wise," Riku pulled on one of Sora's spikes of hair.

"But then again, even when you try to be wise, you're not!" He grabbed Sora's cheeks and stretched them out.

Sora slapped him away and stood up.

"Tough talk from someone who's got more homework than me!"

"Tough talk from someone who drew a love confession on a wall." Riku grinned and started laughing.

This startled Sora and put him off guard.

"Wha-? Huh, I- I told you! It's not like" Sora was cut-off by Riku's laughter.

Sora started to blush, but noticed that Riku just shrugged the whole thing off, so he decided to, too.

"So where's Kairi?"Sora wished to know.

"I think she went with Selphieto go watch Tidus and Wakka Blitz," Riku turned to Sora in a questioning way.

"Are King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy still at Disney Castle?" He asked.

"Well, it's their home. Besides, they have a lot to do before they can come visit us again. Since they've been gone from home, it would be nice to let them be with their family and friends some more, don't you think?" Sora answered while yawning.

"Yeah, they should visit us when they think the time is right," Riku laughed while Sora continued to yawn.

"Geez, Sora! What were _**you**_ dreaming about? Must've been a good dream if you're yawning so much." Riku teased.

Sora paused for a moment and started to get confused.

_What __was__ I dreaming about? I'm not sure anymore..._

"Wait, I know, you want me to guess? Ok, was it a sci-fi? Maybe you were abducted by aliens? Or maybe your keyblade was stolen..."

_It was something important... I think it had something to do with King Mickey and after me, Riku and Kairi were separated again at Kingdom Hearts..._

Riku continued with his teasing.

"Maybe it had to do with some Paopu fruit and Kairi..." Riku nudged Sora, but he didn't move.

The wind continued to sway on the islet, but Sora did not sway with the trees, like he always did. He was concentrating, trying to remember what he had lost from Namine now. She had in fact, dug into his memories, and made him forget about Castle Oblivion, but within that section of his memory was something important that she accidentally made him forget.

"Sora?" Riku began to get worried, seeing as how his sarcasm was having no response, and he even mentioned Kairi, which is always given a response..

_Something to do with a letter and Pluto-_

"**SORA! RIKU!" **Kairi began to scream as she was approaching the two with great speed. Selphie was running close behind while holding Tidus' hand, who had a trophy in the other.

Wakka was sulking behind the two, with no trophy at all.

"Hey, you two!" Kairi had stopped in front of Riku and Sora, gasping for breath.

She had snapped Sora from his concentration, and he was back to his laid-back ways, now concentrating on her.

"TIDUS WON THE BLITZ!" Selphie cheered, squeezing Tidus' hand, indicating that he should lift his trophy in victory.

He started to wave the trophy around, but was interrupted by Wakka's yelling.

"HOLD ON A SECOND, MAN!" Wakka began making dust from the sand, he was running so fast.

He tried to tackle Tidus, but Selphie pushed him out of the way, so Wakka slammed into Riku and they both were lying on the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Wakka!" Riku yelled, but Wakka was too angry at Tidus to listen.

"THAT'S MY TROPHY, MAN!" Wakka started yelling.

Tidus stuck his tongue out. "No it's not! You're too _old_ to win a blitz trophy!"

Wakka got up and started chasing Tidus, who let go of Selphie's hand to run.

Everybody was laughing, ready to hear Wakka's explanation to all this.

"YOU CHEATED, MAN! GREASING MY BLITZ BALL, YOU BETTER HOPE I DON'T CATCH YA!" Wakka slammed into a palm tree, while Tidus tripped on a sand castle.

"IT WAS ALREADY GREASY FROM YOUR OILY HANDS! USING SCENTED LOTION, ARE WE, WAKKA?!" Tidus gave Wakka an evil laugh, while he quickly got up from the sand and started running again.

Everyone was laughing, especially Sora.

Kairi turned to Sora and Riku. "So, what were you two doing?"

"Oh, just talking about you." Riku sneered.

Sora just punched Riku in the arm, smiling and forgetting all about what he was trying to remember.

All about a certain scene after the sealing of the Door To Light.

All about Mickey's dog Pluto and how He, Donald, and Goofy Were chasing him.

All about a certain letter that was never found...

An Unknown Mystery Soon Be Solved.

XDXDXDXD

"CONA, HURRY UP!" Yelled Cona's mom, who was doing the dishwasher downstairs in the kitchen, which was just above Cona's room.

"CONA, MARGARET IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!"

"I'M COMING, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cona was putting on some last bit of hair spray, as she was putting on the leather motorcycle jacket she borrowed from Hope.

Her white shirt was on under it, and she was making sure that her emblem necklace was on just right. The emblem jingled around her neck a little, the shine from it getting in her clouded light-blue eyes. As she moved from the light, the hair spray made sure her brunette hair stayed in place, since she worked so hard on getting it just the right way. As she dabbed a small bit of blush onto her cheeks, to make sure that people still knew she was a girl, and a little bit of eyeliner, Margaret came into her room.

The room was medium size, compared to Cona's Mom's room, but she loved it just the same. With purple and blue walls, her bed was on the purple wall across the blue wall that held the door. The windows were on the left side of the bed, and the night stand was on the right side. Her bookcase sat on the purple wall that was left of the bed wall. And then her desk, where she works at, is opposite of her bookcase.

"Do I _really_ have to go too?" Margaret was whining as she sat on Cona's bed, her light brown hair that went about an inch below her ears swishing with her every movement.

"Yes! I want to make sure you're _really_over all this. If you don't like everything that's going on, and you're still into all that stuff you're into, then you'll never have to go to another one so long as we both shall live," Cona put her hand up to her heart, smiling while she said that, as if she was swearing.

Then she stared at Margaret's outfit, and her smile soon faded.

"Is _that_ what you're _WEARING_????" She asked in disgust.

Margaret looked down at her clothes, and then stared at Cona's outfit.

"Oh My God! You're thinking _MY_ clothes are weird! _YOU'RE_ dressing up as a Squeaky leo from a fantasy world!" Margaret was pointing out Cona's hair, which was spiked up at the end, her jacket, which had two red wings sprayed onto the back, and her emblem, which was of a silver lion.

"It's SQUALL LEONHART! And he's from Final Fantasy 8! Gosh, it's like I don't even know you anymore!" Cona sighed, and turned to get her gunblade replica from inside her closet.

Her eyes began to get more clouded from thoughts emerging from her mind.

Margaret walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, just 'cuz I don't like any of this anime stuff anymore, doesn't mean we still can't be friends. I'm just... a bit more concerned about how I look now. Ok?"

Cona put her hand on Margaret's hand, and then took both hands off of her shoulder, smiling.

"Oh, sometimes you are so self-centered! I'm just sad that I forgot I'm supposed to say 'It's Leon.' I'm not Squall; I'm the Leon version of Squall from Kingdom Hearts, not the Kingdom Hearts 2 version though." She went into a Leon pose and Margaret started laughing.

"There's the sarcastic fun-loving Margaret I know." Cona started making funny faces and Margaret busted out with laughter.

Then the phone rang.

Cona walked over to the side of the bed, checked the caller ID, and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Pepper McPatty's Pizza Parlor. We meet with all your Charlie Brown needs! How may you help me?" Cona said into the phone in a cheerful way.

"_Y'know it's supposed to be 'How may __I__ help __you__?'. So, how's the Cosplay doing?" _It was Aerie.

"Great, thanks for asking! And I would like some beige-orange boots, knee-length socks, beige shorts, a small green top, and a scarf. Maybe a kunai, but that's optional." Cona was still looking at Margaret's outfit, and was sticking her finger in her mouth, pretending to throw up.

"_Cona? Why are you asking for a Yuffie outfit?_"

"Because Margaret looks like a Ko-Gal." Cona made a very huge sigh, almost dramatic.

"Hey! Don't Define mean in one of your Asianese terms! What's a Ko-Gal?!" Margaret was babbling on as Cona was talking on the phone.

"It means a super trendy girl." Cona was still explaining to Hope about the Margaret situation.

Margaret's jade green eyes got big with sparkles as she touched all of her accessories.

"Really? I'm TRENDY???" She said this with cheerful girlish glee.

"Ugh, and now she's acting all chibi!" Cona whined into the phone.

"_But, Cona, I thought you loved chibi's?" _Aerie said.

Cona finally convinced Aerie to let Margaret leech off of her clothing and find something that's similar to Yuffie's outfit in Kingdom Hearts.

XDXDXDXD

"Ok, I'm ready! Let's go to an ANIME CONVENTION!!!!!!!!!!!" Cona screamed, all ready in her Leon Cosplay.

"I. Am. Not. HAPPY!" Margaret screamed along side Cona, in Aerie's clothes as Yuffie.

They forced her to dye her light brown hair black, and with her jade green eyes not changing anytime soon (Margaret and color contacts don't mix), she seemed just a bit abnormal. Cona insisted beyond the eyes that she looked cute, but they still weren't Margaret's clothes, and she really just wanted to go home and watch an episode of _Kyle XY_.

"Oh, come on, Yuffie," Margaret kicked Cona at that remark "We're here to be weird!" Cona ran off and circled a tree in happiness, but really her thoughts were elsewhere.

_No, Margaret. I'm not gonna lose you. I don't want the problem of social status to come between us! Still, it's getting to be too much for me! Please don't leave, please! I. I guess I can't do anything to change your mind, can I? _

_Let's enjoy ourselves one more time, before we drift apart..._

Cona turned to the 3 other girls who came out of the van. Hope, Lori, and Aerie.

They were all laughing and dressed up as Square Enix characters.

Aerie was Cloud.

Lori was Aerith.

Hope was Riku.

All 5 of them ready to face the action that is an anime convention.

They were swept up by the people already there. Many had dressed up as well, and they all were going at the speed of light. One false move or glance, and you would be crowd surfing away by the merriment at Shibuya corner, or at an indoor concert of a J-pop band. Being lost, alone, or with friends, everything is glamorous and wonderful, almost a dream. Everyone was taking pictures with Cosplayers, talking with old or new friends, or screaming their lungs out. Neon colors, and extravagant outfits,

Frilly Sailor suits, or frilly Goth maids outfits, no matter what you were wearing, you got noticed at an anime conventions. Always fun.

The five of them went in to get registered for badges, age (if they are eighteen, they can go alone, but under that age you need a parent or guardian) registration, and maps.

The hotel was a five star, one of the best in Virginia State. The Hotel was 6 stories high, and the convention was rented for the weekend (starting on Friday) on 3 of those stories. Except for the halls between the rooms, each room had a chandelier on the ceiling.

The 3rd floor was set-up for an L-Arc-en-Ciel live concert. They were still getting ready, but the whole floor was already jam-packed with people and crew members. The set was farthest from the elevator, so everyone could spread out for the concert. On the 2nd floor, the biggest room was set-up as a shopping district known as Shibuya Corner, where anime merchandise is sold. Shopping districts at anime conventions were where most people go to, and where most people get lost at. Along with Shibuya Corner, on the 2nd floor there was also a pool for those staying at the hotel, and a gaming room for showing off the newest or most classic games in Japan.

Finally, there was the 1st floor, where people were going to register for the anime convention at the main hall. There was also a dining hall for those who were hungry.

The Main hall was where Cona and her group were, to go register and have their Guardian, Aerie's Uncle Shika, sign them up. After all of them got their badges secured, and all of their things neatly organized, Uncle Shika went off to find their room, and left the five girls at the main hall.

The registration booth was at the top of the stairs, so the girls went down until they got to the middle of the steps.

Margaret stepped aside and leaned on the railing.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked.

The four other girls scrambled into a line, With Lori first, and then Aerie, Hope, and Cona, going left to right. All of their bags were left with Uncle Shika, and their money was inside their purses which were left to Margaret.

"We've been practicing this dance ever since we heard about this convention!" Cheered Aerie, who was stretching in her position in line.

"And since you were too busy playing with our other classmates after school and during weekends, we didn't figure you would want to dance with us." Hope said, with a bored look on her face as she turned to face Margaret.

"Besides," Lori went over to her bag and picked up a radio sound system with a CD inside, "You _did_ say that you were giving up anime for _good_. Anyone would assume that you would complain if we put you in our routine." She pressed _Play_ and got in her position in line.

"LET'S GO!!!!" They all screamed as the music came on.

The _Numa Numa _began to play as the girls started to dance.

They criss-crossed, slid, had jazz hands, and there was even a somersault by Laurie. It was well-done, organized, and people even clapped when they were done. They couldn't do an encore, because the music stopped and they were too tired to do the routine again. All of them did the wave, and then bowed.

Waving their hands away, the girls left feeling good and laughing all the way to the bottom of the stairs, Margaret carrying their bags right behind them and chuckling a little as well. When they reached the bottom, they all spread out on the couch that was next to the elevator, and pulled out the map, received from the registration booth, to plan out what they were going to do, without getting lost.

After some questions and confusions, which were mainly because most of them didn't know how to read a map, they all decided to split up with cell phones in hand.

Hope and Margaret wanted to watch the L-Arc-en-Ciel concert, but since Cona, Aerie, and Lori didn't like that band, the 3 decided to go get something to eat on the first floor. After promising to meet up at Shibuya Corner, The two groups parted.

Cona hurried to the dining hall because she smelled hot dogs and ribs, with Aerie and Lori slowly walking behind. By the time the two reached the line for the buffet, Cona was already sitting down at a table, chatting away with some Cosplayers who were dressed up as characters from _Pokemon_. The Cosplayers seemed to be enjoying the conversation well enough, although Cona was laughing her butt of at how funny she thought them dressing up as Pikachu and Ash was, especially when the Pikachu was taller than the Ash. Aerie and Lori skipped over the ribs and hot dogs and all of the red meat that was in the buffet and went straight to the salad.

"But, Lori, you love ribs and hamburgers! Why are you skipping those too?" Asked Aerie.

"Because, I see how you always pretend to gag whenever we eat at the cafeteria in school, and don't think I never see those looks you give me and Cona and Hope when we eat our lunches." Lori picked up a cucumber with her hands, threw it in the air, and caught it with her mouth.

"Ta-dah!"

Aerie began to laugh. "If you notice my disgusted face all the time and still ignore it, then why are you still picking salad over meat?" Aerie tried to do the same trick as Lori, but the cucumber ended up on the floor and she sneezed when she lifted her head too high.

"Ha! You're so clumsy sometimes, Aerie! The other reason is because you make me feel fat when you're eating your vegetarian meals and I'm eating 10 pounds of rib meat!" As Lori said that, Aerie stretched her face out.

"Ooooh! Don't you _dare_ say that you feel _FAT _of all things! I mean," Aerie nudged Lori in the stomach, "You weigh less than Margaret! If you think _you're_ fat, then that's just plain insulting ME!" Aerie nudged Lori in the stomach again.

Lori giggled when Aerie turned from nudging to tickling her stomach.

"Hee, hee. Well, I'm just not hungry right now," Aerie gave her a stern look, "And no, I'm NOT being anorexic, I just ate a really big breakfast." Lori said in confidence, and Aerie softened her look.

"On the bright side," Lori pointed to Cona and Aerie looked, "At least you're not trying to forget you're problems."

Cona was still talking to the Pokemon crew, chatting at 500 words per second. She was trembling at how fast she was talking. Nobody could tell that she was breaking apart on the inside, but Lori and Aerie were two of her best friends; they knew when something was up.

"You said over the phone yesterday that you knew something about why she's been so bummed lately. Care to spill?" Lori asked Aerie.

"Well... Yeah, I know why she's bummed. But it's a long story. Why don't we go to that couch near registration and talk?" Aerie suggested.

"Sure. Hey, CONA!!!" Lori yelled.

"YEAH!?" Cona called back, holding the Pokemon crew with a cliff-hanger on a story she was telling them.

"We're gonna go eat on the couch near registration since you seem so into your Pokemon crew." Lori waved at them, and they all waved back.

"OK! I'll come get you when I'm done eating! Got your cell?" After Cona asked, Lori smacked her left pocket of her pink dress, indicating where her cell phone was.

They waved good-bye and soon Lori and Aerie were lying on the couch again, shoes off and plates on their tummies.

"So, as I was saying, spill your beans." Lori popped some green in her mouth.

Aerie sighed, took a sip of coke, and looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling.

"Remember when Hope and Margaret got into that fight?" Aerie began.

"Yeah, I was amazed that the fight was over a mix-up Cona had." Lori replied, then snagging Aerie's coke and sipping it.

"It was amazing. So amazing, that Cona didn't even know the whole story until it was too late. I mean, she knew that Margaret and Hope had a big fight, but she didn't know it was about how they both gave her completely opposite advice on her family feud," Aerie took a bite of her Parmesan and tomato salad, chewed for a few seconds, and then swallowed. "By the time she got the whole situation straight, the damage was already done. Margaret gave up our anime passion, and refused to go back, so long as Hope was into it."

"Hold it, back up there. What family feud?" Lori finished her salad already, and was putting a stick of gum in her mouth.

"Oh, that's right! You were in New York that weekend," Aerie smacked Lori's hand away when she tried to steal her coke again.

"So you couldn't have known. Well, Cona's Mom and Dad, as you know, are divorced, so she lives with her Mom. She never plans on going back to her Dad, because we all live near her Mom. That's what she tells everyone, but it's not the real reason." When Aerie turned her head to face Lori, she hadn't noticed just how close Lori's face was from hers.

Lori was anxious to hear more.

"The real reason was... because her Dad abused her. While you were at New York, on Friday Cona went to Nevada where her Dad lives. She had been abused before, but this time it was much worse, and she refused to keep quiet. She kicked him and ran to the neighbor's house, telling them what happened. They let her call her mom, who went to pick her up as soon as she heard the news. The whole incident started a huge commotion with her family ties. While her mother's side thinks her Dad is scum, her Dad's side thinks Cona is making the whole thing up. She had to go to court because her Dad was suing Cona and her mom. Apparently, Cona's stronger with her leg than we thought; she kicked him in the nuts, and caused her dad some _problems_."

Aerie and Lori smiled and slapped hands.

"Go, Cona!" They both said.

"Well, she made her testimony, and her mom said that was all she had to do, she was going to take care of the rest. When Cona told Margaret this, Margaret said that her mom was right and that she did enough to stand up for herself, and people our age shouldn't have to deal with so much drama. Seemed like good advice, but when she told Hope, she said that Cona should finish what she started, if she wants it all to stop for good, she has to make the final blow. Well, they both got into a big argument on what would be best for Cona, and after a lot of yelling and nasty cussing, Margaret gave up anime. When Cona finally figured it all out, she tried to re-piece Hope and Margaret's relationship, but they were too stubborn to let her. Now that Margaret has started to get into other things, Cona has started to feel like she and Margaret are kinda drifting apart. Normally, people always face that, and they move on. But Cona has known Margaret for so long, I'm not really sure she wants to let go yet."

Lori sighed and put her face in her hands.

"Lori?" Aerie put her hand on the back of Lori's head, wondering if she was crying.

She wasn't.

"OH MY GOD! I WAS GONE FOR _1_ WEEKEND, AND I COMPLETELY MISS _EVERYTHING_!" Lori screamed at the top of her lungs.

Aerie was little startled by this, but saw that Lori was just giving some comical relief with the situation. She laughed.

"Still," Aerie scooted closer to Lori, with a depressed look on her face. "I can't believe she never told us about her Dad. I wonder why?"

Lori closed her eyes to concentrate, and then opened them up.

"It was because of our personalities. You know how strong-headed Hope is, I think Cona worried that Hope might have done something a bit drastic with this info. Margaret's a leader figure, so she might have totally controlled the situation, telling her what she had to do and exactly how she had to do them. With me, I probably would have given her my blunt opinion, without thinking of whether or not I might hurt her feelings. That's what I normally do." Lori started laughing at her own downfalls.

Aerie stared at Lori patiently, and watched as Lori stared back.

"Yeah?" Lori said, dumbfounded.

"Well, what about me?" Aerie asked.

"What about you?" Lori asked, looking like she still didn't know what she was talking about.

"Stop confusing me! Aren't you going to- oh, never mind. Forget it." Aerie picked up all the trash and went to throw them away.

_Heh, I fooled her good_ Lori thought to herself.

_Sorry, Aerie. I can't say about you, because I can't figure out why Cona __didn't__ come to you. To me, you don't have any flaws for Cona to be worried about. _

Aerie rushed back from the trash can near the bathrooms that were just left of the couch. She was rushing because Cona was coming, and she had to warn Lori before Cona reached her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Aerie asked in-between her deep breathes.

"Because I am! Why? How am I staring at you?" Lori said, in a defensive, yet confused manner.

"You're smiling." Aerie said, while smiling back.

Aerie touched her cheeks, and just then noticed that they were high enough to be near her eyes. She didn't even know that she was smiling at Aerie, but with her, it just seemed to be a natural thing.

"Yeah," she said.

"It's because I just am."

Riku was sitting and Sora was leaning on the tree on the smaller islet where the Paopu fruit was.

"Nothing's changed."

"Nope. Nothing ever will."

"What a small world."

"But, part of one that's much bigger."

A familiar scene where two best friends summarized in small words what they feel, being back home.

"Hey, Riku." Sora turned to Riku.

"Hm?"

"What do you think it was, the Door to Light?" Sora asked.

Riku chuckled a little, then jumped down from the tree, so Sora stopped leaning. Then Riku pointed to Sora's chest. Sora pointed back, trying to make sure what Riku was pointing at.

"This?"

"Yeah. It's always closer than you think." Riku smiled earnestly at Sora.

And Sora smiled back.

"SORA! RIKU!"

Kairi was running towards them, with something in her hands. When she reached them, she was gasping for air. The expression on her face made the two worry something was wrong.

"Look." She said, and then held up what was in her hand.

XDXDXDXD

"Hey, Hope! Let go, you're hurting my hand!" Margaret was screaming as Hope was pulling her by the wrist, dragging her to the fountain so they could get a better place to sit at the concert.

"Stop complaining! I might have agreed with Cona to be nice to you, but she's not here now, is she?" Hope made gave Margaret an evil, villain smile.

"Let GO! Let go! Let go!" Margaret tried to pull away, put Hope's grip just tightened.

"Oh, calm down, Drama Queen. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just being the responsible one and making sure you we don't get separated, so stop PULLING and I'll stop SQUEEZING YOUR HAND! Which, by the way, is getting sweaty!" Hope started yelling, because the concert started just as they reached the fountain.

Hope let go of Margaret's hand, and sat down. Margaret, rubbing her hand gently, also sat down next to her.

"So, still loving L-Arc-en-Ciel I see? I thought Japanese music was overrated?" Hope said sarcastically, with a sneer.

"Hmpf. One who wishes to be at peace with ones self must stay content with diversity, and keep an open mind on all topics." Margaret said, with a sneer of her own.

"First off: you totally got that off from somewhere, maybe the TV again? And second: when you gave up anime, you kinda closed you _open_ mind to a huge aspect of diverse life, and with that, you're being a hypocritical brat." Hope then crossed her arms and looked away with a huff.

"I'm sure you don't even know what hypocritical _means_! Say smaller words that match your brain! Hey, are you listening? HEY! UGH!" Margaret crossed her arms and looked away in a huff too.

_Even though you got a TINY point with my being a LITTLE hypocritical. _Thought Margaret.

They listened to the song until it slowly faded out.

The band introduced the next song, and as they started to play, the silence was broken.

"So, Cona's been sort of down lately, hasn't she?" Margaret said.

"Maybe it's because you've guilt tripped her with isolation after she made a decision and just so happened as to choose MY advice over YOURS." Hope said, with fierce anger.

"NO, maybe it's because you decided to get involved with something that didn't concern you, and then picked a fight with me, and then actually told people what it was about!" Margaret's anger began to boil up too.

"WHAT, you expect me to _lie_ to people and tell them it's nothing, and by the time it becomes a rumor ranging from 6th graders to even the TEACHERS, it will be something totally made up!?" Hope changed from anger to fury.

"Please, you KNEW that Cona would think it was _her_ fault that we were fighting, and since I was the one who completely isolated you and our common interest, she would think that I was mad at HER or something. You KNEW that I would look like the bad guy here if you told the truth, so don't try to sweeten it!" Margaret yelled.

They both stood up, facing each other. The music was too loud for anyone in the crowd to notice, but they looked like they were about to pounce like a tiger with its prey.

"And yet you never thought to actually look at it that way! _Instead of being worried about what everyone thinks about YOU, you should be concerned about how Cona feels with your decisions and how she thinks your either mad at her or that the whole situation is her fault!_ STOP BEING SELFISH AND START THINKING ABOUT HER! At least I was thinking about that at the time! I might have just went ahead and called you out anyway, but at least I'm WORRIED ABOUT HER! A TRUE FRIEND WOULD BE WORRIED WHEN THEIR FRIEND IS SAD, AND EVEN MORE WORRIED WHEN IT'S _THEIR_ FAULT!" Hope yelled at the top of her lungs.

Silence...

All sorts of heads turned towards the two girls, and even the music stopped, along with the band. The quiet was vicious as questioning expressions stared down at them, threatening to bite their heads off if they didn't leave right then and there. Whether or not the people there would have really done it wasn't really a consideration as Margaret and Hope slowly backed away, into the elevator. As the elevator went down, Margaret and Hope heard a lot of chatter on the concert floor, but then heard the band calm them down and soon they started playing the song again.

"Well, that was... Interesting, huh?" Hope leaned onto the railing behind her sighing, and then taking in deep breathes to calm herself down.

Margaret was standing still, looking very uncomfortable as she stared at the floor in silence.

"Hey, c'mon. It wasn't that bad, Margaret. At least the rest of the girls won't know it was us." Hope said in confidence, trying to cheer Margaret up just a little, because she found the silence far too awkward to stand.

Still, Margaret continued to stare at the floor, not moving her feet or hands, just standing there in the silence.

"But, man! Can't wait to tell everyone when we get back to school! 'Dudes, we caused a commotion at Anime USA, where most of the time you need a _mike_ just to talk to the person next to you!' yeah?" Hope started laughing, trying her hardest to bring some comic relief to the situation.

Yet Margaret still stood stiff and staring at the floor, but then her eyelids shut.

"Oh, come ON, Margaret! Just because a few hundred people heard us yelling doesn't mean they think we're weird, or something. And besides, even if they do think we're weird, so what? Most of the population thinks we're weird just going to this anime convention, right? And even if you're supposedly not into this stuff anymore, at least none of your new friends will know about it, I mean, they wouldn't be caught dead around here..." Hope started to babble because she was getting so uncomfortable with the silence, and she started fidgeting with her fingers and switching her weight from her left leg to her right.

Then she noticed that Margaret bent down, sat down on the floor, and continued to keep her eyelids firmly shut.

"G-girl? What's wrong?" Hope said, a little shaky with concern.

There was still the overwhelming silence that was so unappealing to Hope, but she ignored it as she stared down at Margaret.

Hope bent down next to her.

Finally, Margaret opened her eyes, looked straight at Hope for the longest time, looked back at the floor, and then she put her face in her hands.

And she started to cry.

Hope was completely surprised to see Margaret like that. She had seen Margaret in many ways: pissed, relaxed, bored, and even happy. All of these expressions she saw at school, but never before in her _life_in or out of school, had she ever seen MARGARET cry! This was mainly because of Margaret's honor with her leader-like personality. It just seemed like leaders tried their hardest to never show weakness in the heat of battle, and that combined with Margaret's stubbornness makes a really strong ego. Hope tried to comfort her somehow: putting her arm around her, saying it'll be ok, she even tried to pull back Margaret's hair, but it just seemed too awkward. Margaret just slapped her hands away and kept crying.

Then, of course, some people tried to get on the elevator.

"Hey, could you guys take the next one?" Hope said, noticing the people were staring at Margaret.

However, people still continued to board the elevator, stepping over Margaret's and Hope's things, and still chatting away. Most of them were adults in suits, but there were some who were from the convention, and even a select few who were Cosplayers. Yet, all of them were ignoring Margaret and Hope, while continuing to talk as if nothing was happening.

"Um, y'all? Didn't you hear me? Could ya please get out and take the next one" Someone dropped their bag on Margaret's toe, and then pushed Hope into the railing. "HEY! AM I NOT BEIN' CLEAR HERE?! GET OFF THE ELEVATOR NOW!" Hope yelled, loud enough for people to stop talking and stare at her, but not loud enough to care or do anything about it.

In fact, some of them even made fun of her right in front of her face.

"Oh my, what a very loud girl!"

"Honestly, what a waste it would be to go and leave to get another elevator when this one is just fine."

"Well, with red heads it's all about the rage and short fuses they have. Their sense is blinded by anger."

Hope just stood up and looked at them in disbelief. She couldn't figure out why they thought she couldn't hear them, they were right _there_ in front of her. She could see they were talking, they could see she saw they were talking. So why were they talking to other people and not going ahead and telling _her_ what they were thinking.

"Oh my GOD! Are you seriously that whacked as to not know, I CAN HEAR YOU? If you got something to say, say it TO MY FACE." Hope said, in a deep and low voice.

The adults just stared at her, but continued to ignore her.

_Wrong move, you snobs! _Hope thought, and then she walked over to the buttons where people choose which floor they want to go to, and slammed on the _open _button. A few seconds later, the door opened on the 2nd floor.

"Hey, did the elevator stop?"

"What's going on?"

"This isn't our floor!"

Ignoring all the chit-chat, Hope grabbed the bags of the guys who were talking about her, and she threw them out the door. Shocked, the guys went in front of the door, and then turned to face Hope.

"What did you do that for!?"

"Hey, just because you have some issues, don't take it out on us!"

Then the guy who made the first comment went straight up to her, and cussed her out.

He was a tall man, about 5 inches taller than Hope, with sleek and shiny short raven-black hair parted on far left side. His misty green eyes seemed very unusual, not so much from the eye color Hair color match-up, but from the bags that were under his eyes, and at such a young age. He didn't seem older than maybe 25, at best. He seemed to have worry lines on his forehead already, and has lost too much weight, maybe from pulling all-nighters? Maybe he was dealing with a phenomenal amount of stress, yet he seemed to find comfort in making fun of teenagers, apparently, with his attitude towards Hope. And Hope wasn't very happy with his attitude.

So she attacked him.

She punched him straight in the gut, and then drop-kicked him onto the floor. She finished it up with grabbing him by the collar and pushed him out the door. Afterwards, when he was trying to stand, he stared at her with a shaky look, and spit.

Yet, she wasn't done. She had a few colorful words for him.

"" Hope screamed at the top of her lungs.

(Due to the mild language in this paragraph, it has been made unreadable, and to make a note, this fan fiction is rated PG)

As soon as she said that, the others quickly began to walk off the elevator, leaving only Hope and Margaret inside. They all started walking away as fast as they could, some shivering from being startled so much, others running on the fuel of fear.

One thing was for certain: They all thought she was crazy. The guy that she attacked was still lying there, staring at her, and continued to do so as the elevator door began to close, separating him from Hope. A girl who, from his point of view, was completely nuts and had seemed to attack him for no reason. Yet nobody dared to do anything about it, because the other adults in suits just walked away, leaving him startled in bewilderment.

As the man got up and wiped his pants clean, he noticed that he wasn't actually hurt that badly.

He realized that he was talking nasty about some teenage girl he didn't even know just because she got a little anger, and then wanted to crack his head when she heard him. Then he became extremely embarrassed by the fact he was pretty much beat up by a teenager. So embarrassed, in fact, that he collected his things, checked the time, and skipped his meeting to go home.

Hope turned to look at Margaret, who was looking at her with the same expression as the man she attacked. Hope noticed this, as well as the fact that Margaret was shaking a little by the uproar, and so she sat next to her, and began to talk.

"So, you ok?" Hope asked.

"Um, yeah. A little scared of you, maybe, but I'll be fine." Margaret said very softly, scooting somewhat away from Hope.

Hope laughed at Margaret's attempt to get away from her, when they were clearly on an elevator that would force them to be with each other, seeing as how the elevator was about 6 x 6 in diameter.

"Well, gee. I guess I can't blame you. I did say some colorful things to that dude. I just sorta snapped." Hope rubbed the back of her head and looked away.

"Oh, really? Maybe it was like when we were fighting at the L-Arc-en-Ciel concert." Margaret looked away too, seeming a little hurt.

"No," Hope looked at Margaret in a stern way, "With you, I meant it. With the weirdo-jerk guy, I just did it to let off some steam. Plus, he was just hitting me when I was already down, from you." Hope was stilling looking at Margaret.

Margaret put her face in her hands, and sighed.

"You were right. About everything. I was just being selfish with Cona." Margaret sighed one more time, and then looked up to face Hope.

"Oh, go tell Father about it, why don't cha?" Hope said, turning away from Margaret, knowing if she looked at her, she would want to console her.

Father- an orange cat, Chiyo-chan's father, that talks, in Azumanga Diaoh.

"Or better yet, how about you tell Cona what you just said." Hope turned back to Margaret, who had just understood what Hope was trying to tell her.

"Do you think Cona would forgive me?" Margaret just instantly burst into tears, weeping while she said that.

"Do you really think Cona is that type of person to hold a grudge?" Hope was smiling in a peaceful manner, raising an eyebrow in question.

"No." Margaret smiled in-between deep breaths, after she stopped crying.

"Yeah, not like _THE GRUDGE_." Margaret started to make this awkward noise, tilting her head and opening her mouth really wide.

Margaret laughed really hard at Hope's imitation of _The Grudge_.

"Look." Kairi said, and then held up what was in her hand.

It was a message in a bottle, with the stamp of the King of Disney Castle.

"The King?!" Sora grabbed the bottle from Kairi's hands, and pulls out the piece of paper.

Riku and Kairi both crowded around Sora as he opened the letter to read. As Sora's eyes went to look upon the piece of paper, everything surrounding the three began to stop. Tropical trees stopped swaying, the ocean waves disappeared, and there was no breeze on the peaceful islet that was a part of Destiny Islands, where the breeze always appeared during that time. Kairi and Riku looked at Sora, astonished expressions on their faces. The one who was the most shock was Sora himself: eyes round and small, eyebrows firmly put in a raised position, and mouth in a small but expressive 0 shape.

He was the most silent of them as well, not seeming to believe the ridiculous fact that was on plain paper, in a bottle.

All that was in the bottle was a blank sheet of paper, with nothing written on it whatsoever.


	2. Grouping by Chance

**Chapter 2:**

**Grouping By Chance**

**By Livi **

"There's..." Sora snapped out of the state he was in, and tried to form words.

"... Nothing written on it." Kairi and Riku said at the same time.

All of their jaws dropped and eyes got big.

"WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!" They all screamed out, their voices echoing across the whole island.

Only Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus heard them, and they thought it was just a strange noise.

The three friends sat down in a circle, and Sora put the piece of paper in the middle of them. Each one of them looked at it with questions on their minds.

"Ok... Why would the King send us a blank letter?" Sora asked, turning to Riku and Kairi for answers.

"It's not like him to keep us _this _much in the dark about something." Riku pondered.

"Is he really someone who would keep us in the dark at all?" Kairi turned to Riku and asked.

"He prefers to do things himself, to not bother anybody unless he knows he can't handle it. He's a leader who worries about others, that's why he's the King." Riku smiled as he talked about his old friend.

"So, this means that he's not sure whether or not he can handle this thing by himself." Sora said.

"I guess so. What I'm trying to figure out is why the letter would be blank. He should have written _something _on it so as to not worry us." Riku said, as he turned the paper over to make sure there was anything on it.

"Hey, stop messing with it." Sora touched the paper too.

He began to feel a deep ache that hit his head like an explosion. A _ping_ noise started to surround him, but only he could hear it. The noise combined with the surging pain was making Sora dizzy, and he fell back, fainting right next to Riku and Kairi.

Alarmed, they both grabbed him, shaking him and yelling for him to wake up, or asking what's wrong.

He couldn't hear them; his mind was in another place, within his memories. He saw a road that led to some familiar trees that were a colorful shade of green.

Donald and Goofy were there too, in normal clothes.

Donald was in his regular blue sailor suit shirt with a red bow and blue cap, Goofy in an orange shirt, open green vest, beige pants and shoes. In-between them both was a young fourteen year-old wearing a red jumpsuit with a small blue-white jacket, and huge yellow shoes.

"Wha?" The present-Sora gasped, looking upon his former-self and his comrades, wondering how this all was happening.

It all began to flood back to him. Beating Xehanort's heartless(though, at the time they all thought he was Ansem), Riku and the King helping them close the door to Kingdom Hearts, and letting go of Kairi so she could return to Destiny Islands. All of this seemed so long ago, a year ago in fact, but Sora always replayed these precious moments over and over again in his head. Never before, however, did he ever consider what happened afterwards. It was like his memory completely skipped a year, going straight from Kingdom Hearts to waking up in a pod in Twilight Town. Before his waking up, there was just...

Nothing.

Sora started to rethink this whole situation, trying to figure it all out. He cocked his head, and then stared at his old-self. He looked at how he used to act, and what he used to wear.

"Heh," Sora chuckled, "I did look pretty funky back then. Geez, yellow shoes and red pants? What was I _thinking_?" He looked at himself one more time, and then gasped.

"WHOA! How short _was _I?! I wasn't even taller than Goofy! Thank goodness I grew during..." Sora stopped himself and thought about it.

"Wait... _When _did I start growing? When I was in that pod?" Sora continued to get confused, until something in the scene caught his eye.

Pluto was on top of the lush green hill, in front of the three crusaders. All together they saw that Pluto had a note with the King's seal on it. They stared at each other, and then began to run after the dog, laughing from their own excitement. Sora gasped as he finally figured out why he started remembering.

"What... what happened to _that_letter????" he started running towards the dog too, but the scenery turned from colorful and bright, to pure black.

The only thing that was left was Sora himself, stopping in alarm from the scenery change. It seemed to him as if his eyes were closed, but they were in fact open. Soon, a little white aura appeared in front of him, and when he looked harder to try to identify it, he soon realized it was Namine. She smiled at him, but he could see she was a little sad.

"Namine, why are you...?" Sora began, but was stopped when she lifted her hand in front of him in a stop position.

"I'm sorry; this is as far as I can let you go." Namine whispered, and then pressed her hands together softly.

The black scenery turned and swirled around, and Namine began to disappear.

"The rest of your memory I can't help you with. You have to remember those on your own." Namine smiled as she said that.

"But I believe you're strong enough to open all of your heart, and see the truth." She then waved goodbye, and disappeared.

Sora searched for her, but soon he disappeared, too. His mind was getting pulled back to his body.

"Sora? Sora!" Riku kept pleading as he shook Sora repeatedly.

"Here, let me try." Kairi pulled Sora from Riku and laid him peacefully on the ground, and then she got up and walked a few feet away from him.

"WAKE UP, LAZY BUM!" Kairi kicked him with her right foot like a soccer kick, as hard as she could.

She kicked him in the head, which jerked him up pretty quick.

"Nice work." Riku laughed.

"Welcome back." Kairi commented as she walked next to Sora and sat down again.

Sora gasped and coughed a little, then looked up at Kairi.

"Namine!!!!!" Sora got up and screamed.

Riku had a confused expression on his face, but Kairi was the most shocked.

"Um, me? Sora, did you mistake me for," Kairi's eyes got a little big with hurt "For Namine?" Sora then looked again at Kairi and started to stutter in response to her question.

"Dude, you're dead." Riku commented with a sneer.

"Huh? Wha?" Sora turns to Riku with a dumbfounded face, and then to Kairi, with a confused face as she gave him a fake half-smile, and then turned away from him.

"–No! I had a dream! And Namine helped me remember something!"

Riku made a surprised expression when he heard this.

"Did you remember something _about _Namine?" Riku asked, wondering if Sora finally remembered about Castle Oblivion and of all the things that happened there.

"What? No, but she helped me remember something else; it was really important!" Sora seemed confused by Riku's question, but shrugged it off and began telling them his dream.

"She was pretty confusing, though. Saying weird things like 'This is as far as I can let you go.' and, 'But I believe you're strong enough to open all of your heart.' I was completely lost. It was like with those Organization members. They kept calling me Roxas. They were all trying to sound profound, or something, I guess." Sora scratched the back of his head.

"So, even though she confused you even more then you usually are, she still helped you remember something?" Riku asked, while insulting him at the same time.

"Yeah."

"Well, what did you remember that must be so important, or else you wouldn't have had an out of body experience?" Kairi asked, eagerly awaiting his answer.

"I don't think it technically was an out of body experience. His spirit didn't get out of his body; he just went into his memories." Riku remarked.

"Well, that doesn't matter." Sora said.

He began telling what had happened after he fainted, about how he remembered Kingdom Hearts, and then he told them about what really happened after all of it ended. Sora explained to them about the pathway with Donald and Goofy, and about Pluto.

"So we chased Pluto, but the rest is a complete blank. All I know is that Pluto had a letter with the King's seal on it." Sora finished his story.

"WOW..." Kairi and Riku responded in unison.

"So, it must be the same letter as this one, and it just got wet and the ink must have disappeared..." Riku started saying.

"Huh? Wait, no! This was in a bottle! The one in my memories wasn't in a bottle! Even if it was the same, someone would have picked it up to put it in the bottle, and they would have noticed it was blank and had thrown it away." Sora said.

"Well, at least Sora is starting to think for once..." Kairi commented.

"Hey!"

"People! Not important right now! Although, his thinking is very unusual... Anyway, do you even remember where you last saw it?" Riku intervened.

"The last thing I remember was chasing Pluto at that weird hill, and then it's a complete blank."

"Well, at least now you know there is a blank that you need to find a way to fill." Kairi said.

"Yeah, and now we know our peaceful vacation at home is now," Riku slapped both of his hands together really hard, "_OVER.__" _

Sora screamed with joy as he ran around his friends saying things like "One more adventure for us!" and, "I was getting bored, anyway!" as his friends laughed with him.

The three friends got prepared to depart for their newest adventure.

With their Gummi ship ready for take-off, they all set sail in search of the missing message. The trip went smoothly at first, but then the gang began to develop problems.

"Hey, guys..." Kairi began.

"Yeah?" Riku said, watching as Sora was struggling with the controls.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh, um..." Sora stopped fumbling with the wheel to look up at Kairi.

"I dunno." he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, obviously we got to go to Disney Castle, to find out if Donald and Goofy know where the place I remember is." Sora confidently determined.

"And to ask the King about the letter." Riku added.

"I feel bad about those other friends you have, though. I think they should know about the letter, too." Kairi sighed.

"What other friends?"

"Those people who you said lived in Hollow- oops! I mean, Radiant Garden. What were their names? I think Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and Merlin. You also mentioned this girl, Tifa, and that guy, Cloud. Maybe they should be clued in on what's going on?" Kairi suggested.

"Oh yeah, I guess so..." Sora said.

"First we go to Disney Castle!" Riku urged.

"Wait! What about all my other friends I made, like Mulan and Hercules!? They need to know, too!" Sora argued.

Riku and Kairi started talking at the same time, none of their views really taken into consideration.

Sora just stared at them dumbfounded, him not very good at arguing.

Soon, everyone started pulling on the wheel of the Gummi ship.

"RADIANT GARDEN!"

"DISNEY CASTLE!"

"STOP PULLING ON THE WHEEL!!!!!"

Sora grabbed it from both of them, and it ended up being tugged so hard, it broke off of the Gummi ship, creating a SNAP! Noise and silence spread across the floor.

"Uh-oh..."

"What does that mean?"

"What do you think it means, Sora!? It means, we're gonna Cra-" Riku was abruptly interrupted by the engine, which started to speed up on an innocent World.

The threesome started screaming at the top of their lungs while the Gummi ship swirled in confusion, slamming right into some unknown dirt of the World nearest of them.

"...Crash."

XDXDXD

"So, what are you going to do?" Hope asked Margaret as they were both heading for Shibuya Corner, where they promised to meet up with Cona, Lori, and Aerie.

"I'm going to apologize to Cona about everything, and try to make it up to her." Margaret answered with determination in her eyes.

"Yeah, and I guess I better apologize, too." Hope rubbed the back of her head and looked away, embarrassed of admitting she did something wrong.

Meanwhile, Cona was on top of the statue of Ichigo, looking for Hope and Margaret.

(- Ichigo is the main character of the anime _Bleach_. He has orange hair, and a huge sword called a zanpakto)

Lori and Aerie where nearby, but they were looking away in embarrassment since there was a crowd of people staring at Cona. At the same time, Margaret and Hope spotted the crowd staring at Cona, and started running towards the statue with Cona on it.

"Oh! I SEE THEM!!" Cona screamed, and pointed to Margaret and Hope.

Lori and Aerie jumped up onto the statue to see, and then jumped down to reach them.

"Hey, guys!" Hope waved towards Lori and Aerie as they got closer.

"Here, catch doggie." Hope threw a strawberry to Cona, and Cona grabbed it to take a bite.

"Huh, a strawberry. Very ironic, Hope." Cona commented, before she ate the rest of the strawberry.

(-The reason why it's ironic is because Ichigo means "Strawberry" in Japanese, and Cona is sitting on Ichigo, the main character in _bleach_.)

"I didn't plan on you sitting on a _Bleach _statue, Cona." Hope shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, Margaret has something she wants to say to you." Hope dragged Margaret out from behind her.

Hope urged Margaret to go on, and slowly, Margaret began to walk up to face Cona. She managed to say hi and come up with a little bit of small chit-chat, but soon they both fell silent, and Margaret needed to apologize.

"Cona?"

"Yeah?"

Margaret was a little nervous, and it showed in her voice. They were all 15, and at that age they hadn't quite grown up enough to develop acting skills. Like, hiding their fear or showing a good front.

They were all still just teenagers, trying to find their selves in the world, while dealing with what everyone was putting on their plate. Expectations, regrets, dreams, and embarrassments. All of this was mixing together in their minds, yet they still found stable grounds. Their stable grounds were always within their friends, and Margaret knew she and Hope had shaken that within Cona. She wanted to find the words that would make everything all right, the words to let Cona know she would try to make things better, to make things the way they used to be. As Margaret was about to put words out from her mouth, the speakers being sold nearby began to play _Ain't No Mountain High Enough_ and everyone looked at the guy selling the speakers, with deep annoyance.

_What a coincidence, almost as perfect as a movie, that song playing as I am just about to tell Cona I'll always be there for her, _Thought Margaret as she was about to speak again.

"Cona, I just wanted to say that I'm so..." Margaret was trying to figure out whether to say she was sorry for everything or she was irritated at herself for what she did.

Suddenly, a noise broke out across the room, and then the ground started shaking with extreme force.

Everything began to fall off: books, movies, toys, even the statue started shaking and moving a little.

There were multiple screams around the roomwhile everyone ran around in extreme chaos.

"Whoa! What's it, an earthquake?!" Hope yelled as she grabbed hold of two hands that seemed familiar.

"EVERYONE, GRAB HOLD OF EACH OTHER!!!!!"

Soon Hope, Margaret, Lori, Aerie, and Cona were grabbing hold of whoever they could and running off.

"WE'LL ALL MEET AT THE REGISTRATION HALL!!!" Someone shouted.

"Huh? What? A registration hall?" A familiar voice questioned.

They all split up within the 2nd floor, running under anything they could and grabbing whatever was sturdy enough. The extreme force soon departed from the building. Climbing out of the awkward spaces they slid into, the groups ran off to find out what went on.

"Oh my god, what WAS that!?" Lori gasped as she pulled aside her two that she grabbed.

"Never felt an earthquake like THAT before!" Margaret said, out of breath from running so fast, since Lori had grabbed her.

"An earthquake?! How can there be an earthquake when- Oh no, where are we? Wait, where are they?! I've lost them! Where am I???" Said the complete stranger that Lori accidentally grabbed.

00 00 00 00

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must have grabbed you from your friends! I just panicked from the earthquake, and I thought I grabbed _my _two friends." Lori apologized to the girl.

She was a regular sized girl, with dark brownish red hair the length going down to her shoulders, and a pink dress with a small white shirt underneath showing. She had beautiful blue eyes that seemed very confused and worried as they looked at their surroundings.

"Ah, from the looks of it, we're right outside of Shibuya Corner. All these hallways sure look the same, though." Margaret looked around and said.

The girl stared at Margaret for a long time, with a blank expression. Then she changed to a panicked look.

"Um, Shib- Shibuya? ... Corner???? What are you talking about????

What's a... Shibuya Corner?" She asked with wide eyes and a stammering voice.

"What do ya mean, 'What's a Shibuya Corner?' huh? It's that shopping part of this convention we were just in! Geez, if you don't even know what it's called, you're gonna get lost really quick." Lori slapped her on the back, and smiled.

"By the way, I _love _your costume! It's so authentic-looking!" Lori circled her with admiration.

"_Costume_? I'm not wearing a costume! I always wear this, why would you think this was a costume?!" She asked, somewhat offended.

"Huh? Aren't you a Cosplayer?" Margaret asked.

A few teenagers walked by, and then stopped and went up to the girl.

"Oh my god, look! A Kairi Cosplayer! Can we get a picture? You look just like her!" The teenagers put their arms around Kairi and said "Cheese!" as their guardian snapped a quick picture.

They quickly left as she was confusingly asking, "I _look _like me? A-a _me _Cosplayer? C-Cosplayer? I, uh, it's, w-WHAT????" Kairi was completely shocked and blown out of the water.

She slid down onto the floor, her mouth open from being speechless, and her eyes in an utter daze. Margaret and Lori bent down in worry when Kairi started making awkward and small sound effects.

"Um, is something wrong? Are you ok?" Lori asked with concern.

_What am I going to do? This place looks HUGE! How will I find the two of them in such a bizarre place? No, I have to stay positive. I can always manage by myself. I am perfectly capable of finding those two, I'll just look in the most weirdest places. _Kairi thought.

She rose from her squat-position and looked into both Lori's and Margaret's eyes, with extreme determination and a replenished outlook on her situation. She spoke with great force.

"_WHERE AM I??????"_

-- -- -- --

"That is just _Insulting. _What, are you trying to sabotage me or something? Nobody is _stupid_ enough to believe that you are me!"

The pool was filled with people, frantic from the earthquake. Yet there were two frazzled girls who accidentally took hold of, in their opinions, a complete freak who actually believed he was the person he was Cosplaying.

"Look, dude. It's great that you're getting into character," Hope began, backing away from the guy, "But there's a fine line between passion and complete obsession craziness. Which one do you think_ you_ are?"

"Listen, we would love to work this out with ya, but we need to go find our friends, and you seriously need to get a reality check, alright?" Aerie said, as she grabbed Hope and tried to drag her back to the elevator to go to the registration hall.

Hope, however, wanted to get one last jab in with this guy.

"Nice hair, by the way, dude." Hope sneered.

"It's NATURAL! Unlike yours!" He sounded offended.

"Oh my God," Hope turned around to face the guy. "You actually, really, think that you ARE the real and genuine RIKU. Guess what dude? YOU'RE NOT!!!!!!!!" Hope pushed the guy towards the pool.

Then he grabbed hold of her and pulled her in, too.

Water splashed everywhere as the pool area seemed to grow silent. Aerie gasped with absolutely no sound coming out of her mouth whatsoever. After about a minute, she ran towards the pool to get Hope out, trying to get there before she blew her top. When she reached for her, though, Hope just ignored her and started yelling at the dude.

"Whacha do THAT for? Now we're BOTH wet! Hey, wait! Don't you try to RUN AWAY FROM ME! And get that stupid _WIG OFF_!!!!!!!!!" Hope grabbed hold of his head and started tugging away at his lavish locks of shiny silver that swayed beautifully when it was dunked into the water.

Instead of getting pulled off, revealing some flat brown or black ruffled hair, He just yelped from the tug, and severely pulled Hope's hands off of his hair.

"GET. OFF. OF. MY. HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!" Riku got out of the water, and searched for a towel to wipe himself dry.

His gorgeous light blue eyes darted towards Aerie, which surprised her completely, and soon his whole body darted towards her in a calm manner.

"WHAT IS HER PROBLEM????" Riku raised his voice A little, but not too much as to destroy his calm exterior as he pointed to Hope when he said "Her" and gave great emphasis.

This was so unexpected (Sarcasm) that it flustered Aerie, but she composed herself once again, and told him to calm down.

"So, what? Did you dye your hair for this?" Hope got out of the water as well, and gave him a disgusted look when he said "Her", then she also found a towel.

"H-he would've gone back to his regular color when he fell in the pool..." Aerie gasped, and held in her breath.

"P-permanent! He could've gotten it dyed permanently! It's not unlikely for a lunatic like him, and really you are crazy, to do something as feebleminded as permanently change his hair to a stupid color as silver!" Hope was starting to stutter, beginning to wonder what was going on.

"Hey, it's not a STUPID color!" Riku pointed out.

"And what are you talking about? Dyed? I don't know what dye is, what is it?" Riku said, a little confused, but still stern.

"You, you, you..." Aerie pointed towards Riku, and then passed out.

"Aw, fudge nuggets." Hope bent down to check out Aerie, and see she was ok.

"Well, you idiot. Come here and explain yourself, _REAL_Riku."

"How did I get to the _Game Room_?" Cona whined as she stood outside, where inside almost 10 people were, and that was it.

"I must have gotten swept away here from the huge panicking crowd." He scratched his head with great confusion.

"Yes, that must be it!" Cona slapped the guy's back, "Thanks, dude! Oh, nice costume, by the way."

"Thanks!" He gushed with pride, smiling with a laid-back feel.

"Well, I'm off in search of my friends, who I've lost in the mist of all this." Cona ran off to the hallways, turning to the right when the first pathway came into her view.

"Yeah, me too!" He said, still smiling with a laid-back feel.

He continued to stand there with his smile like a space-cadet for about 3 minutes until it finally hit him.

"Wait, these are my regular clothes, not a costume! That's pretty rude." His face fell into a blank expression for about 3 more minutes, and then he realized something else again.

"Wait, I should go look for _my _lost friends too!" He snapped back into reality, and began to look frantically.

"Huh? Oh, this must be that game room she was talking about! Well, I was never into video games; thought they were a waste of time, but I'll take a look just in case Kairi and Riku are inside. For some reason, they couldn't get enough of those video games when we got back to the Islands..." He went inside.

The Game Room was the most magnificent thing any gamer had ever seen! DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) arcade games were lined up on the left side of the room, the Wii was plugged onto a gigantic TV, and absolutely amazing new Japanese games, like the Paru Paru game or the new final fantasy games under development, were there.

(Paru Paru- Japanese dance moves.)

"Wow, maybe Kairi and Riku have a point with these video games, all of this stuff is _so _cool." He began to walk around the place, and ended up spending 15 minutes on the DDR Arcade games, asking every person who went on about if they had seen his friends.

"Hey, you, hold it!" Cona Screamed at the top of her lungs, running towards the DDR Arcade games as fast as she could, trying to stop him.

"Who, me?" He asked, as she grabbed hold of his arm to stop him from walking away.

"Yeah, you! You're the only authentic Sora here. I mean, you're costume is awesomely accurate." She said, letting go of him when he turned to face her.

"Hey! How did you know my name?! And that reminds me, this isn't a costume! I actually wear this! You shouldn't say that to people, they might not think the same about their clothes!" Sora pointed out, with a semi-stern face on.

"Oh, silly Sora person," Cona laughed at him, "You get into such great _character_. That's what you get when you become a Square Enix character, eh? Look at me, I'm Leon!" She twirled around to show off her outfit.

"W-what?! Hey, what's a Square Enix?! And yeah, why are you looking like Leon????? H-how do you know Leon? What's going on here?" Sora asked.

Cona just gave him a questionable look, not answering him at all.

"So not the point here. I'm just wondering if you've seen my friends." Cona asked.

"Someone needs to tell me what is going on!!!" Sora said with great nervousness, ignoring Cona's question.

Suddenly, a gang of Organization XIII Cosplayers appeared in the Game Room, with huge smiles on their faces when they saw the Paru Paru Video games, and started rushing towards it, which was where Sora and Cona were. Startled, Sora quickly checked to see who they were, flashed out his magnificent Kingdom Key, and rushed towards the members, ready to pounce. Fortunately, Cona pulled Sora back by the collar. He squirmed and tugged, but Cona held a firm grip while she apologized to the startled Organization XIII Cosplayers as they started to dart away to the Paru Paru games. As they left, Cona let go of him, and she backed away, wide-eyed and pointing at him with sheer shock on her face.

"T-that, it, you, I, Oh My God!!!!!!!!!! Your Keyblade! It just, I-it just appeared, in y-your hand, like in t-the G-game..." Cona stuttered insanely.

"Well, yeah. It's my keyblade, I can just... Hey, wait! A GAME?" Sora became more confused then ever before in his life.

He couldn't figure out what Cona meant by the whole "Game" thing, but it began to bug him, and bug him, and _bug _him until he became so bewildered by it, he _had _to figure it out.

He didn't know _why_it bugged him so much, but he needed to find it out.

"What are you talking about 'In the Game', it doesn't make any" Sora began.

"_For you and I, there's a new laaaaand, angels in flight,_" Music caught Sora's attention.

When he turned to look where the music was coming from, shock overcame his whole body as he saw himself talking in a video of him fighting Xemnas.

"_There's more to a heart than anger or hate, there's all kinds of feelings.__" _He heard his voice come out of the speakers, while a video of the scenes appeared on the screen.

"_My Sanctuary, my Sanctuary now, where fears and lies, melts awaaaaaay, Music inside," _The scene where Xemnas was holding his chest appeared on the screen.

"_Kingdom Hearts, where is MY heart?_" Xemnas' voice said over the speakers.

It was a Kingdom Hearts music video, the winning video in an AMV contest, which apparently began a month ago.

"W-what in the?" Sora whispered, his pupils getting smaller and smaller every word.

"THANK YOU EVERYONE!! THAT WAS THE WINNING AMV IN THE "SQUARE ENIX EVIL VILLAIN CRUSHER" CONTEST!!! MADE BY _AURON'SSTALKER543310._WASN'T THAT A GREAT KINGDOM HEARTS AMV??? I GUESS SORA IS THE BEST EVIL VILLAIN CRUSHER OF THEM ALL!!!! REMEMBER FOLKS, THERE'S ONLY 20 COPIES LEFT OF THE KINGDOM HEARTS: FINAL MIX GAME. SO GET TO THAT BOOTH BEFORE THEY ALL RUN OUT!" The announcer guy yelled into the mike.

"A game..." Sora's eyes never left the huge TV screen as he continued to whisper these oh so important words that completely gave him shock.

"Didn't you know it was a _game_? It's one of the hugest best-selling sensations since Final Fantasy!" Some guy said as he overheard the last part of Sora's and Cona's conversation.

"F-Final Fantasy?" Sora's eyes finally looked away from the TV to look at the random dude, and also because the TV screen was still black.

"You've never heard of _FINAL FANTASY_?????? It's only the greatest games ever made, Square Enix is the creator company, and only the most magnificent graphics and tear-aching storylines are inside these games!!!!" The guy made many expressions and hand gestures when explaining.

"I'm guessing you're a fan?" Cona asked with giggles.

"Well, duh! I'm actually one of the contestants in an AMV contest. It's for the best Final Fantasy couple. I'm doing Tidus and Yuna. Hope you all watch it! The contest's at 5! See ya!" The guy waved and ran off, his friends calling him.

"Well, wasn't he a fire-cracker full of energyAnime convention people are so nice, don't ya think?" Cona said, while dragging Sora off into a shady corner of the gaming room.

"A-a G-game..." Sora mumbled, still dazed.

"Oh, wait. That's right. You've never been to an anime convention, have you?" she asked, him in the corner and she right in front of him.

"No, never even heard of that..." Sora mumbled, feeling broken and confused from his realization.

"AH-HA!" Cona yelled really loud as she pointed her index finger at Sora, who was very startled from the loud noise she made.

"We ARE in an anime convention! You don't know where we are! And you're Keyblade appeared out of nowhere! Almost magically... And almost magical almost REAL."

"Nothing's real, apparently, it's all just a video game..." Sora mumbled very quietly to himself, completely traumatized, but Cona did not hear him.

"[0o Oh. My. GOD. You're, you're _REAL.__YOU __ARE_ THE REAL _SORA_!!!!!!!!!!" Cona stepped back a few inches.

She had no sound effect capable of comprehending her shock.

"Me!? So I'm REAL, now?! You need to make up your mind, because I still think I'm a video game character!" Sora said.

As soon as Sora said that, the room began to shake, and Cona's feet began to fall down, along with the rest of her body. Sora's body soon followed, but when they checked to see everyone else's reactions to this after-earthquake shock, nobody else was falling to the ground. In fact, all the others in the Game Room were completely fine, still walking regularly, and chatting away while they played their video games, as if nothing was going on. Suddenly, the entire area seemed to swerve and twirl around Sora and Cona, and the room was plunged into darkness. Well, technically, Sora and Cona were plunged into darkness. A scream was made, and then a bright light appeared to aid them out into safety. However, the end of the light that Cona saw and the end of the light Sora saw were two completely different places.

Yes, Sora and Cona became separated, and when there paths would meet again, only God knew.

0o 0o 0o 0o

"W-where am I? Wait, I know where I am!!!! This looks so famil- OH! I'm at Disney Castle!" Sora calmed down a little once he realized where he was.

Disney Castle found a way to sooth his aching heart from all the events that happened to him. However, all was not well with the normally happy and cheerful castle, and Sora knew it from all the loud sounds and colorful characters rushing around the garden.

"H-hey! Oh, sorry miss! Didn't see you there-What?! Stop pushing me! Can anybody tell me WHAT IS GOING ON????" Sora tried to keep up with all the commotion, but he only found himself either trampled or trampling others.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! And with my size, that would be very hard. It's that Keyblade bearer we all know and love, SORA!" a small voice said next to Sora's left foot.

"Huh? Who's- Jiminy! Jiminy Cricket!! It's so good to see you again!" Sora knelt down to pick the small Disney character up.

"It's funny how you always appear when we need you the most! How have you been, Sora? Oh, what am I saying!? The Queen needs to speak to you right away! There's a big emergency! The King's gone! Again!" Jiminy jumped up and down in Sora's palm, expressing extreme distress with the situation.

"WHAT?! The king's gone?! O-ok! I'll go talk to Queen Minnie! Oh, and where's Donald and Goofy???" Sora asked, a little exasperated from all the information getting chugged at him.

"With Her Majesty! Now, go, go, GO!" Jiminy continued to jump up and down until Sora put him on his shoulder, inside his hood, and started to run towards the Library, where Queen Minnie and the others are normally found.

As soon as he opened the doors to the Library, Donald and Goofy ran into Sora, trying for a hug, but ended with a complete collapse of all four of them, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy.

"A-hyuck! We knew you'd be here! Always when we need ya!" Goofy gushed, while squeezing Sora in a huge bear hug.

"Aw, phooey! We're never gonna get rid of you, are we?" Donald stubbornly said, but still while holding onto Sora.

"Gawrsh, it's like a family reunion!" Goofy added in, before Queen Minnie approached them, smiling from their radiant happiness, but still having a look of worry for the King.

"Hello, Sora. It's very good to see you again. I see you're as charming as ever." Queen Minnie said; worry even invading her voice as she spoke.

"Oh!" Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all stood up straight, and raised their left hands in an army salute, Jiminy still in Sora's hood.

"Your Majesty, it's good to see you too! What can I do for you in this unpleasant state of affairs?" Sora said, proud he had brushed up on his etiquette and vocabulary.

"Yes. I would like you to please listen while I give you information on the current situation." Queen Minnie composed herself in a lady-like manner, and faced all four of them, ready to start.

"Recently, King Mickey has disappeared from the Castle, and nobody has been able to find him. As always, I looked here, in the Library, for some sort of clue as to why he went away again, and I found this letter." Queen Minnie went up to the King's desk and pulled out a letter wrapped up neatly and with the King's seal on it, just as what was in the bottle at Destiny Islands. She began to unwrap it and then showed it to them. Nothing was on it.

"I thought this letter would soothe me, but it doesn't have anything written on it! All it has on it is the date, and it was made only 3 days ago! It would really make me feel much better if you could maybe find the King once more?" Queen Minnie sounded very grave.

"Of course, your Majesty!" Goofy said.

"We found him once, we can do it again!" Jiminy said.

"Consider it done!" Donald said.

"Queen Minnie, you just worry about taking charge of the castle, and we'll take care of the rest!" Sora said.

Somehow, their words were able to console her, and she nodded softly to their reassurance.

"Yes, I can count on all of you. Please, we will have a Gummi ship prepared for you, if you would just wait a little while, and you shall be off on your new journey." Queen Minnie smiled.

"Yes, ma'am!" The four of them turned and went towards the door, to wait for their departure.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy wandered around in front of the audience chamber, staring out at the garden.

"Sora, how have ya been?" Goofy said, coming up to Sora who was leaning on the railing.

"Uh, to be honest, I've gotten some awkward stuff happening to me. Oh, and by the way, I think I have a good clue as to where the King might be." Sora said, leaning his front body backwards, staring upside down at the garden.

"Well, that's good to know we have a clue. But what happened that was so awkward?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, geez! When I was back on the Islands, I passed out and suddenly remembered this thing about the clue I have about the King. Me, Kairi, and Riku decided to go in search of the clue, and- Oh NO! I don't know where Riku and Kairi are! I left them in this weird place! How am I gonna" Sora started babbling about everything, and finally Donald went over to him and climbed on top of him, to calm him down.

"Shut up! Go at the beginning." Donald yelled, forcing Sora to calm down.

"Fine. The three of us started arguing about where we would go first on the Gummi ship, so we ended up crashing it onto this bizarre World where this thing called 'Anime Conventions' are held, and we got split up. Then, this girl who grabbed hold of me, she showed me that my whole existence is just part of a GAME!" Sora said, becoming a little depressed again.

"A GAME? A-hyuck! That's funny! Of course it's not a game!" Goofy smiled.

"Hey! How do you know?" Donald asked.

"Because, we're all alive, and we're all real, and since we're real, we can't be a video game! Gawrsh, I thought that was obvious..." Goofy turned to Donald and said.

"Yeah," Sora touched his chest, where Riku pointed out way back when, "We all have to stay true to our hearts, and that's all the truth we need!" Sora cheered up with a smile.

"Goofy, I'm starting to think you're smarter than you let on..." Donald said, narrowing his eyes at Goofy, who continued to give a float-like smile.

"Gawrsh, ya think?" Goofy said, still very float-like.

"Well, I think we'll just keep an eye on you, Goofy. Oh, I think the Gummi ship is ready..." Jiminy said, tugging on Sora's hood to turn towards the Gummi Hangar.

"Hiya, guys! It's good to see we've got another job for you!" Chip and Dale said together as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy entered the Hangar.

"It's good to see you guys again, too." Sora chuckled at their chirpiness.

"So, what are we gonna use to get around?" Donald asked, examining all the new Gummi blocks Chip and Dale recently bought.

"Oh, the ship we just finished up with this amazing one!" Chip cheered.

"Yeah! It's a real beauty!" Dale gleefully said.

One of them pushed a red button ironically next to them, and a part of the ceiling opened to reveal a magnificent new Gummi ship. The colors were still the same, mainly orange with yellow wings and stripes. However, the wings were shaped in a more aerodynamic style, and the front part of the ship was narrower, for speed. Also, there were noticeable cannons on each side, on top of the wings. Finally, a small red heart was spray-painted on the left side of the ship, right below the cockpit.

"WOW! It's awesome!" Sora said, staring at it with bewilderment.

"You guys did a nice job!" Goofy said.

"It's almost the same, but much better looking." Donald said.

"Well, we should be off, now. Great work, Chip and Dale, you should be proud of your self's." Jiminy said.

The four of them got into the cockpit, all prepared for lift off.

"Now, wait just a second there! DONALD!!!!!" Daisy yelled, slamming open the doors to the hangar, and running while trying not to trip from her dress.

"Oh, Daisy." Donald sighed, while getting out of the cockpit to say goodbye.

"You're leaving again?! How long will you be gone this time?! Try to stay out of trouble, all right? And don't be gone as long as last time, alright?!" Daisy said, while hugging Donald.

"[0o0Hahahaha! This is so funny! Donald, be sure to wave goodbye! Heheh." Sora couldn't stop laughing at how embarrassed Donald was.

Finally, after many waves of goodbye, Donald finally got back into the cockpit, and they were able to set sail.

"Alright," Donald pointed towards the hole out, "BLAST OFF!" The hole brightened by this big red arrow, pointing down, and the Gummi ship fell.

"Ooohohohoooy!"

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

"Waaaaaaaah!"

"Whoooooooooaaaaaaaa!"

The Gummi ship popped out of the bottom of Disney Castle, and they turned on their engine. The red flare appeared behind the ship, and they were off into space, to find their King and friends once again.

o o o o

She stood in an all too familiar narrow and long pathway, surrounded by lavish green grass, trees, and bushes. Everything seemed young and eternal, with its lively blue sky and angelic clouds slowly moving in it's Earthly rotation, or at least the cloud's were in the rotation. She slowly turned her head, left to right, and then her eyes widened in shock, to realize she was completely lost.

"S-Soraaaaaaa? W-where are you? S-Sora? This isn't funny! I-I'm lost, and now I've lost the only guy who actually knows where I am!" Cona turned her head left and right once more, furiously this time.

Her eyes widened even more than before.

"Help..." Cona muttered, quietly.

She walked over to a tree and sat down, the shade somehow calming her to get her senses back, wherever they went during her uncommon string of events. A lovely breeze appeared as she sat down, the scenery, though terrifying to Cona, being quite beautiful and unpolluted. Leaves fell from the trees and bushes and began to fall onto the narrow pathway.

"Alright, on Today's segment of 'What Happened to Cona That Day', I just recently: A) Got split up from my friends by an earthquake, B) Met up with the 'Real' Sora, C) LOST the 'Real' Sora, and D) Magically appeared in a mysterious place that looks very similar to the Castle Oblivion pathway. Huh? And here I thought I was a boring person..." Cona paused for a second, a questionable look on her face.

"_Why _am I talking to myself?" She said in disgust.

_What the HECK is going on here? Nothing like this has ever happened to me, well __duh__, but still! Nothing like this ever NORMALLY happens to anybody, EVER! Ah, I'm starting to wonder if ANYTHING isn't normal anymore! _

Cona sighed with dramatic effect, and then she saw another strange thing across from her. There, lying on another tree was Pluto. The dog was fast asleep, a letter with the King's seal in his mouth.

"And the weird things just keep on coming..." Cona whispered while approaching Pluto slowly, being sure as not to wake him.

She walked even slower when she was in the shade of the tree, and it took her at least 2 minutes to kneel down next to him.

As quiet as she could, Cona gently, lifted the dog's upper lip, and removed the wrapped piece of paper from his position.

"Oh yeah, I'm swift like a ninja!" Cona said to herself as she walked away from the tree where Pluto was.

She looked at the letter a little disgusted.

"Icky! Dog drool! Why do they never show this side of life in video games?" Cona wiped her hands, and then she began to unwrap the letter to read it.

"Oh wow, this is a long one..." Cona commented.

0o0 0o0 0o0 0o0

To Whom It May Concern,

For those who love the lives you live, and others that believe in something much bigger than their own homes, both must listen to what the truth has in store for you! This Universe is much greater than what you know, and there are many more Worlds to be explored, having people just like you within them. What you believe is myth is actually a truth that just doesn't work in your World. There is magic in so many Worlds, yet there are those unfortunate few Worlds that laugh at this suggestion. It does matter, to those who think of disbelief. What is Fake, and what is Real? That is the most mysterious question someone could ever ask, and soon if something isn't done, that question will forcibly be answered! There has been a recent mysterious being in a mysterious World that wishes to punish those who struggle with the question of Fake and Real by changing to the orbital pathways and colliding all of those Worlds! We must find this mysterious being and stop him or her by all means, or else everyone is doomed! Please, whoever is reading this, find help! Find the keyblade Bearers, and tell them everything! They will be who helps in the end.

Sincerely,

_**The King**_




	3. So What?

Chapter 3:

So What If I Can't Find My Friends and I Have To Save The World?

She stared at the letter from the King with a blank expression on her face. She didn't exactly have the slightest idea of what was in the letter when she first saw it, but never something like this! What's Real and what's Fake? What in the heck does that mean? Cona didn't know what to make of this letter.

"It has to be made up. I mean, I remember at the end of the first game, Pluto had this letter with him. That was, like in our time, around 3 years ago!" She stared at the letter again.

"But then again, maybe he just had a suspicion, and now it has become real. Ack! There's that word again! Stupid Real and Fake stuff!" Cona kicked up some dirt with frustration as she walked up to the road with nothing else to do.

Stupid actions, of course, since she woke the dog up.

"Yaaaaaaaaaawn!" Pluto's eyes fluttered open at the sound of the dirt getting kicked towards him.

"Bark?" Pluto got up and walked up to Cona, as if she were an old friend.

"Bark! Bow wow!" He licked Cona's hand as she started walking away on the path.

"What? Oh, no! Doggie, go back to sleep! Be good, Pluto, and go back to your King, who must be worried about you! Go on, go!" Cona tried everything she could to get Pluto to leave, but he stubbornly stayed with her the whole time, with a happy face.

"Why?! Why, doggie, why?!" Cona finally gave up, lied down on the ground, and petted Pluto on the head slowly.

"Oh, you want the Letter, don't you?" Cona tugged it away from Pluto.

"Sorry, you can't have it. I need this so I can show it to Sora when I find him. Obviously, saving the Worlds is his expertise, not mine." She paused and stared at him.

"Ooh, let me guess! You want to come with?" Pluto barked once more and nodded his head.

"Yay, I'm talking to a dog and going insane. Then again, I've had a pretty insane day, so why not talk to a dog and go help save the World?" She stood up, ruffled up Pluto's hair, and went off.

"Come on, Pluto!"

They got into five minutes of their journey. Then another strange thing occurred. A whistle was heard all across the area. Then it began to grow silent everywhere. A pure black portal appeared five feet away from Cona. Before she could figure out what was happening, everything began to go blurry, and she was knocked out cold.

Though she did need the sleep, she woke up with a kink in her neck, and in an entirely new place. Still lost, she turned around and found no Pluto in sight. However, she did find dark clouds surrounding the new place, regular dirt everywhere, maybe a few pieces of grass, and huge cliffs. Along this place, once again, was a pathway. Not like the pathway before, though, because this pathway was the Four-way Pathway of Destiny. The dust went with the wind as a breeze came forward, and drifted towards Cona. She let the dust into her eyes, opened her mouth at a bad time, and ended up standing up spitting and rubbing her eyes.

"EW! Icky, gross, BLAH!!!" Cona finished wiping and spitting.

Panic overflowed her; she started to wonder if she would ever see a familiar thing ever again, she felt so lost and confused.

"Was I abducted by aliens or something?" Cona said with sarcasm, still dazed.

"Wait," Cona snapped out of it and came back to reality "I know what this place is..." She walked onto one of the pathways, and stopped where they all crossed.

"Wow, I'm right where the secret ending was. Heck, might as well enjoy it." She looked across the fields and smiled.

"Wow, such a huge amount of space, these pathways could lead to anything because they are the person's choices, and what they choose is what is destined to them. So cool..." Cona stopped and fixed her gaze on something truly incredible, and very strange.

"J-just like in the secret ending..." Cona's eyes widened as she stepped closer and closer to all of the Keyblades that were scattered before her.

It was almost as if she was drawn to them, she just couldn't ignore what was there, and there was one Keyblade in particular that caught her eye.

"I," Cona's legs soon brought her to that Keyblade "I want it."

She grabbed hold of the hilt and pulled it out of the ground.

It was a very unique Keyblade, because there were two blades upon it. One was of the Moon with King Mickey symbols within it, and the other was of the Sun with a huge swirl inside. Golden grass was twirling around the part that connected the blades with the hilt, and it wasn't very fragile at all. The hilt was shaped like a heart, and the chain led to a star-shaped key chain.

So many colors were in it! Yet they all came together to become one. The sun was, of course, yellow, but it wasn't too bright, the moon was blue, the King Mickey's were black, and the part that connected the hilt and the blades and the hilt itself were light purple. The chain was obviously silver, and the start Key chain was pure white. Cona smiled as she looked at the amazing thing she held in her hands. Suddenly all of the rest of the Keyblades began to vanish, and the only one left was the one Cona was holding.

"Just, my, uh, G-Gosh! Oh my God! This is so," Cona stared at the Keyblade again and gave a big grin "So COOL!" She screamed.

She ran around in circles with girlish glee, holding the Keyblade close to her chest with both hands, so as not to drop it. She soon stopped when she started to hear a strange noise that could only be described as either thunder or an earthquake.

"Please don't let that mean another change of scenery; I'm already as lost as humanly possible." Cona stared at the bear waste land she was really in.

"But then again, what do I got to lose by leaving? This place gets pretty creepy after awhile, anyway." Cona went back to the crossing of all four pathways again and looked out into the fields again.

"Maybe if I..." Cona closed her eyes and randomly picked one of the pathways.

She opened her eyes and started walking in that direction. She figured it was destiny, and that maybe her pathway would lead her out of there. She figured right. As soon as she started going down her own pathway, another bright light appeared and through her into another World.

Again.

For the third time.

This time she didn't go to a new World. This time, she finally was able to get back to her anime convention, in the registration hall where absolutely nothing was really going on. She took one look at the peaceful and familiar scenery, and she fell right onto the couch for a great and wonderful nap.

0o 0o 0o 0o

"What kind of clue do you have, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Actually, it's a place. A place we've already been. Do you guys remember this one place we went to after we sealed Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, driving the Gummi ship with Donald breathing down his back.

"What are you talking about? We went out of those pods and saved the Worlds! Again!" Donald stopped and thought for a second.

"Wait, you mean before all that?"

"You mean you don't remember what happened?" Sora asked.

"No? I jump from Kingdom Hearts to the pods..."

"Gawrsh, we've got a mystery." Goofy concluded.

"Well, maybe we should start with The End of The World." Sora suggested.

"That World disappeared when we defeated Xehanort's heartless!" Donald said.

"Why don't we start with the Inbetwix and Inbetween place in that there Twilight Town?" Goofy offered.

"Stop that!" Donald said to Goofy.

"Stop what?"

"Acting smart during strange times! It's getting kind of creepy..." Sora said.

"Uh, so off to Twilight Town, gang!" Jiminy said.

Twilight Town hadn't, of course, changed at all. It's still looking as if though the sun was just rising or just falling, the sky filled with soft colors like orange and purple. Sunset station is still a wonderful landmark, the train still cost money to go to the beach, Sunset Hill is still the most romantic place for couples, the 7 wonders of Twilight Town are still totally bogus, and the sea salt ice cream is still amazingly delicious.

"Yummy!" Sora continuously licked his ice cream with joy.

"Uncle Scrooge could give us sea salt ice cream for free at Radiant Garden." Donald mumbled.

"Don't be sour." Sora said.

"Focus, guys. We're here for a reason." Jiminy said, pointing towards the way to the mansion.

"Right. Let's get going." Sora and the gang went forward, but were once again distracted.

"Hey, look who's back!" Hayner yelled towards them.

It was Hayner, Pence, and Olette going to get some ice cream, when they spotted our heroes.

"It's Hayner, Pence, and Olette! How have you guys been? It's been such a long time!" Sora said.

"It's been good. I won the Struggle against Seifer this year and won the trophy!" Hayner said, a little smug.

"Well, congratulations! We're glad to hear you're doing well!" Goofy said, smiling.

"That reminds me," Olette walked up to Sora "What ever happened inside the mansion? We saw you go in, and you never came back."

"Oh, that. Well, there turned out to be a science lab hidden underneath the library table, and it had a little machine thing that sent us to another Twilight Town, and that Twilight Town led to this place called the Inbetwix and Inbetween which led us to The World That Never Was, and that's where we had the final battle with this Nobody named Xemnas. After the Battle, we were all sent home." Sora gasped for air.

"Uh, ok..." Olette said.

"Whoa! That's totally COOL!" Pence and Hayner shouted.

"Hey how about we go there right now?!"

"Who knew something so awesome was in our town?!"

"Guys, you both promised you would go shopping with me!"

"Aw, man!"

"That's what we came here for! To go to the Inbetwix and Inbetween! We gotta go!" Sora remembered.

"Alright! Pence, I'll leave the shopping to you! Let's go, guys!" Hayner rushed to join with our heroes.

"HAYNER!!!!!"

"Have fun, you two! Don't get too frisky now!" Hayner called out with laughter.

"Huh?"

Olette and Pence just stared at each other, and then slowly let their gazes drift to their feet, where they let their faces burn with great embarrassment.

"So, what's this Inbetwix and Inbetween place like?" Hayner asked them.

"Hayner..." Donald said.

"You know you gotta get back to your friends. It isn't right to just leave them like that." Goofy said.

"Plus, it's too dangerous to let you go with us. We don't even know what's gonna appear." Sora said.

"Ugh. Fine, fine. I'll go back to them. But when you guys ever stop by in Twilight Town again, I wanna know what happened!" Hayner said, and then waved goodbye as he left.

"Well, now we can go without anymore distrac..."

"Sh! Don't jinx it!" Sora stopped Donald.

The walk was pretty brief. From Sunset station, they went to Tram common, which is where the hole to the forest is on the right. After going through the forest, the Mansion appeared clear from the trees. The Mansion was very beautiful, and also was once rumored to be haunted, since it was very old. It was the 7th wonder in the 7 wonders of Twilight Town. Everyone thought it was just the curtain swaying, but in the other Twilight Town it turned out to be Namine, because that was where all of her drawings were. In fact, the drawings are even in the real Twilight Town. The mansion was of a gold like color, and it shined so peacefully in the sun. The gates were still in very good shape. Within the other Twilight Town, Roxas had used the Keyblade to open the locked gate, but in the real Twilight Town The gate was already open, so they were able to slip by it no problem.

"So, we go through that secret passage again, right?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, that's what I remember. This is also where we first woke up, this mansion." Sora said.

"That's right. This is one weird place." Jiminy said.

They looked at the ruin-like pieces that were in the entrance beyond the gate. It gave great mystery as to how it turned out this way, but no one questioned it.

"Yeah, it is. Man, I never realized just how cool this mansion was. I mean, hidden laboratories, parallel Worlds, and other crud."

"WHAT THE????!!!!!" Everyone yelled as they jumped by the sudden voice that appeared out of nowhere.

"Hayner??? I thought you went to go fine Pence and Olette!" Sora said.

"Well, when I went to go find them, I saw them making out, and so I left." Hayner said without hesitation.

"HUH???" Sora stuttered, flustered.

"I'm kidding! But I did see them making googly eyes at each other, so I decided to leave them alone. Man, it's gonna be so awkward when they get back. We'll be in the Usual Spot and they'll be saying how cute each other is, and I'll be in a corner pretending to puke." Hayner made a puking gesture.

"Well, so long as they're happy..." Sora shrugged it off, and started walking towards the mansion again.

"You need to go, though. It's still too dangerous to have you come along, Hayner. Sorry." Jiminy said, inside of Sora's hood.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanna tell Sora and you guys about Pence and Olette, just in case you guys get back and see them all lovey-dovey. See ya." Hayner said, and then left.

"I think he just wanna see if we would take him along again." Donald muttered to Goofy.

Inside the mansion, things were still the same. A unicorn statue outside in the back, and two little memorials that were either broken or can't be touched. There was one door on the right that was completely blocked off by rubble, then one door on the right with a smashed table inside it. There were two stairs on each side. The left one led to Namine's White Room, with all of her pictures in it, as well as the beautiful clear curtains and white table and chairs. The right one led to the library that hid the secret Science Lab. They all took the stairs to the right, and went through the secret Lab. It also hadn't changed. They went through the machine and went to the other Twilight Town. Then going through the dark aura that was in the next room, they finally got to the Inbetwix and Inbetween.

"Still weird." Donald said.

"Still creepy." Sora said.

"Well, there's something that's changed!" Goofy pointed at something behind all of them.

The place where Kairi once stepped out of was there, but it was different. The aura wasn't white and pure, but it also wasn't black and dark. It was...

Orange and purple.

"WHAT????" Donald said.

Sora went up to take a closer look at it.

"What does...Purple and orange mean? I know white means light, and Black mean darkness, but orange and purple???" Sora said, confused.

Everyone stared at Goofy.

"Huh?" Goofy said.

"Well? Shouldn't you give us your answer that will be surprisingly right?" Donald asked.

"Sorry, guys. I got nothing." Goofy said.

"Well, then. I'm guessing we've got a very bad mystery on our hands." Jiminy said.

"I guess we're about to find out what it means. Come on, guys. We have to go through that to find out if that's where the place I remember is!" Sora ran right into the strangely colored aura, and Donald and Goofy followed him.

When they went through the orange and purple, it instantly sent them to the place Sora was thinking of. Not because it was the only place it can go to, but because it sends people to where they want to go.

Of course, it sent them to a familiar narrow and long pathway, surrounded by lavish green grass, trees, and bushes. Everything seemed young and eternal, with its lively blue sky and angelic clouds slowly moving in its Earthly rotation, or at least the clouds were.

"T-this! This is it! This is the place I remember before all that stuff happened!" Sora said.

"Yeah! I remember now!" Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all said.

"What are we suppose to do now, though?" Sora asked.

"I guess try to find Pluto?" Donald suggested.

"Good idea." Goofy said.

They searched for Pluto all around the area, until they finally saw him in the middle of the pathway, completely knocked out. He was sleeping like a rock, and wouldn't get up at all. They searched around him and even looked under him.

"Where's the letter?" Jiminy asked.

"I guess someone else might have gotten it. Maybe the King?" Sora suggested.

"Why would he make a letter and then take it back? That makes no sense!" Donald said.

"Maybe someone else took it." Jiminy said.

"Uh, guys?"

"Who do you think would live around here?"

"This place looks peaceful enough. I'm sure the people here are nice."

"You think the person who took it would give it back?"

"Guys..."

"What!?" Sora, Donald, and Jiminy said.

"Look." Goofy pointed to the tree.

"What about it?"

"Behind it."

They looked behind the tree and saw a completely other World, just behind that tree. It was like there was an invisible line between the marvelous green grass, and the dead land that surrounded the other World. Both Worlds had a completely different feel from each other. The land they were on was beautiful and with full of life. The other world was dark clouds surrounding the sky, regular dirt everywhere, maybe a few pieces of grass, and huge cliffs. Along this place, once again, was a pathway. Not like the pathway before, though, because this pathway was the Four-way Pathway of Destiny.

The one place that Sora and the others have never been to before. The only people who have been known to have been here before were three mysterious Chasers and an evil villain with his comrade...

"What... is that place?" Sora slowly walked towards the empty waste land World, and finally walked onto it.

It was as if though he could feel something strange happening, but as soon as Sora walked onto the other World; he quickly went back over to where he was before.

"What'd ya do that for?" Goofy asked.

"Something's gonna happen! I can just feel it." Sora said, shivering.

"Deja vu?" Donald suggested.

"Not deja vu! It's just a weird, but strong, feeling!" Sora continued to shiver.

He was right. Something was wrong with this picture. There was absolutely no Pluto in sight, and two different Worlds were mixed together. They were both colliding, and our heroes needed to get out of there right away. Everything started to mix even more together, the invisible line was no more. Each World grew on each other, forming together and Sora and the gang were in the middle of all the madness. The ground shook as if it were an earthquake and storm clouds moved from the waste land to the peaceful skies, while the lush grass went across the other World.

"W-what's going on here?!" Goofy said, shaking with the ground.

"I don't care what's going on! We need to get out of here!" Donald said, shaking with the ground also.

"H-how do we get out of here?!"

"Through the purple and orange thing again! Hurry!" Sora and the gang ran towards it, not sure if they would make it out in time or not.

They ran as fast as they could, breathing getting faster and faster, until finally all heart beats stopped as they all jumped through the purple and orange portal, getting back to the Inbetwix and Inbetween safely.

-- -- -- --

"Well, you idiot. Come here and explain yourself, REAL Riku."

"Huh?" Riku stopped wiping his face with the towel, and looked down at the two girls., since he's taller than them.

"What do you mean, huh????? Tell us whatever's going on, 'cause we sure as heck don't know!" Hope said.

"Yeah, and don't try to tell us nothing's going on because something has to, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now, would you?" Aerie said.

"You are very observant." Riku pointed towards Aerie.

"And YOU are just irritating." he then pointed towards Hope.

"Oh, thanks!"

"HEY!!!!!!"

"Alright, come here." Riku nudged them towards him, and they went to sit down next to him.

They leaned in as he began to open his mouth, going closer and closer to him until they were only inches away from touched noses. He cleared his throat, and then in a hushed tone...

"I'm not telling you." Riku said, and then gave a million dollar smile.

Silence...

More silence...

Boiling anger rising from both of them...

"WHAT?!" Hope and Aerie both screamed.

"Don't be so loud! You had a point with me being here with a reason, but, uh... Not for the reason you think." Riku said.

"Well, then. Why are you here???" Aerie asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah, dumb-dumb. Why are you here???" Hope asked, also unconvinced.

"I already told you; I'm not telling. I don't have to." Riku stood up, ready to walk out of there.

"If you don't tell us, then we're going to follow you wherever you go throughout this convention and annoy you every second of the ways." Hope concluded.

"And we know over 100 songs to sing that are annoying." Aerie informed him.

"Ack, fine. Just don't sing." Riku stopped and turned to face them.

"I'm here because of...of...um..." Riku tried to think.

"Yeah, yeah?!" They leaned in closer again.

"Um, because...I'm here to see my GIRLFRIEND!!!! Yeah, that's it!" Riku brightened up as he said that.

"WHAT?! YOU DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!" Hope and Aerie said at the Same time.

"Yeah! That's my answer, and so... That's my answer!!!"

"Oh yeah? What's her name??" Hope asked.

"Um, uh... her name's... Olivia! yeah! Her names Olivia!" Riku wasn't stuttering as much.

"And she's..." Riku went on.

"Beautiful."

Riku closed his eyes and smiled.

"YOU'RE LYING!!!" Hope and Aerie said together.

"Ok, so you two didn't like my lovely story. I'm not gonna tell you what's going on until you both help me find my friends." Riku said.

"Help you find your friends? Why would we do that, all you've been is rude and a liar! Why would we help you?!" Hope said.

"Are you looking for Sora and Kairi?" Aerie asked.

"Yeah, Sora and Kairi. How did you know that?" Riku asked.

"Oh, just a guess. So if we find them, no. if we find at least one of them, then you tell us what's going on. Oh, and while we're at it, we can go ahead and find our friends as well. Deal?" Aerie said.

"Huh? When did this become a bargain? Why should I haggle with you and get nowhere? Ah forget it! Fine, we have a deal." Riku shook Aerie's hand.

They let go and began searching for their friends.

"Where should we start?" Riku asked.

"How about the Registration area?"

00 00 00 00

"WHERE AM I??????" Kairi spoke with great force towards Lori and Margaret.

Both of them were shocked by her behavior so far. She was confused, had a nervous breakdown, and now she was yelling stupid questions. What were they suppose to do? Well, seeing their situation, anyone would've went ahead and answered her question.

"Uh, we're at Anime USA right now, in the Redemption's Own Truth Hotel, in West Virginia. In America?" Lori said, a little confused by her question.

"She knows she's in America, from the USA part of the Anime USA, dummy." Margaret whispered to Lori.

"Well, it's always good to make sure." Lori commented.

"America? Does that mean I'm in another World?" Kairi asked, still determined to stay head strong.

"Well, I guess it is always good to make sure. Yeah, to make sure the person you're helping isn't a looney!" Margaret whispered to Lori.

"Um, sweetie, what's your name?" Margaret asked, a little afraid of her answer.

"My name is Kairi. I thought you already knew that." Kairi said.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Margaret commented.

"Hey, what's your last name?" Lori asked.

Margaret looked at her as if she were crazy.

"What? I wanna know! They never say in the game." Lori whispered to Margaret.

"My last name's" Kairi's eyes widened, and then with a flash going across her eyes, both pupils went dazed.

"Huh? Hello? Ms. No-Last-Name? Yo?" Lori waved her hand over Kairi's eyes.

"Oh? Huh. What were we talking about?" Kairi snapped out of it, but completely forgot their conversation.

"What do you mean? We were talking about your last name!" Lori said.

"Oh, my name's Kairi. I think I told you that, didn't I? Why are you asking me again?"

"No! I said your- ah, you don't even know. Forget it!" Lori leaned into Margaret.

"I think this might actually be the real Kairi."

"What?! Oh brother, Lori! She's just a nutty Kingdom Hearts fan who actually believes in their Cosplay." Margaret said.

"Watch."

Margaret went up and grabbed hold of Kairi.

"This costume was most likely bought either on Ebay, or in that Cosplay store, watch it'll have a tag on it." Margaret said.

She grabbed the tag and squinted her eyes to read it. Her pupils widened as she let go of the tag as well as Kairi. She walked up to Lori, eyes still widened and she was also a little shaky, while Kairi rubbed her back from the tag being tugged on.

"What? What is it Margaret!?" Lori said, frightened.

"OH. MY. GOD. OH. MY. GOD. I've never, ever, even heard of the store on that tag." Destiny Island's Boutique.

"Oh, come on Margaret. There's bound to be a store you've never heard of; doesn't mean it's not out there." Lori said.

"This one might change your mind."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, because this one is called the Tacdehat Puidexia. I'm no expert, but doesn't that mean Destined Boutique, in ALBHED????" Margaret whispered, eyes widening again.

"OH MY GOD, it IS in albhed!!!!!" Lori grabbed hold of Kairi and checked her tag, and sure enough, there it was in bold letters.

Tacdehat Puidexia.

(Albhed- it's a language in the Final Fantasy series, from Final Fantasy X and X-2)

Finally it completely hit them like a wrecking ball.

"OH MY GOD!!! YOU'RE KAIRI!!!!" They both yelled.

"Um, yeah? I thought we already covered this." Kairi said, staring at them as if they were crazy.

"The REAL Kairi!!!! Not some Cosplayer!!!" They both got really excited, with adrenaline pumping within them.

"Ack, what is that? What the heck is a Cosplayer???!!" Kairi asked.

"Oh, never mind that. We have SO much to talk about. Like, why are you here? Shouldn't you be on the Destiny Islands?" Lori asked.

"Oh! That's right! I need to find my friends! I'll explain once we find a place to relax and chat. Any place you know?" Kairi said.

"Oh! I know, how about we go to the Registration area? There's a couch where we can relax." Lori suggested.

"Alright, that sounds good."

"Huh. I guess finding one friend was easier than we thought it would be. Alright, Riku, you know the deal. Spill your beans." Hope said as she stared at Kairi.

"Well, I find this very ironic." Lori said as she saw both Aerie and Hope at the Registration area.

It was fate when all of them were able to find each other in such a big hotel. Surely enough, they all went to the Registration area, and there everyone was.

"Riku!!! I found you!"

"Aw, Margaret and Lori! We missed you!!!" Hope and Aerie jumped into Margaret's and Lori's arms.

"We missed you too!!!!" Margaret and Lori held Hope and Aerie tight as they jumped around in joy in finding each other again.

"Well, one more to go. I wonder where Sora went?" Kairi went greet Riku, happy to see him.

"Eh, he's probably asleep somewhere." Riku commented.

"Hey, you promised, Riku! You gotta spill your beans now!" Hope said, turning to face him.

"Oh, right. I promised them I would tell why I came here." Riku told Kairi.

"I was about to tell them what happened also." Kairi said.

They all sat on the couch as Kairi and Riku told their current story. About how they found a letter, it being blank, Sora's headache, going out to a new World, crashing, and how they ended up here.

"Wow. That's a great story! And we just thought we would find Cosplayers and do some shopping." Hope commented.

"Hey, guys..."

"This is so cool! We'll help any way we can!"

"People..."

"Ooh! We should totally go with you!"

"GUYS!!!" Aerie screamed at the top of her lungs.

"What is it?" Hope, Margaret, and Lori said.

"Aren't we missing a player?" Aerie asked.

"?"

"OH MY GOD, CONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The four great friends screamed extremely loud.

"YES???!!!" someone yelled back behind the couch.

Everyone jumped up, startled by the mysterious voice. They turned around to look and see who it was. Her hair was a little messy, but it was Cona all right. She was there the whole time, listening to the people on the couch, but she didn't know it was her friends who were talking. She was too exhausted to care at that point in time. So she tried to go back to sleep, but when four people are screaming your name right next to you, it's kinda hard to sleep.

"Oh my God, CONA!" The four yelled again, but this time with joy instead of panic.

"Yeah, second time you've said that. What's all the noise about?" Cona yawned and scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, we thought we lost you for a sec!" Aerie said with relief.

"Well actually, Aerie thought we lost you for a sec, we kinda forgot about ya. Sorry about that..." Lori said.

"Yes, Lori is sorry about forgetting you..."

"Hope! You forgot about her too! Apologize!"

"Oh great, there's more of them." Riku commented as he noticed Cona.

"Hi, I'm Kairi, and this is Riku. I'm guessing your Cona?" Kairi introduced herself.

"Anymore of you we need to know about?" Riku asked.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5... no, I think that's it." Cona said.

"Good. Were you listening back there, or do we need to repeat our whole story over again?" Riku asked.

"Nah, I was listening. I thought some creepy freaks had sat down on the couch, and were saying all these goofy things. I thought you people were drunk for a second." Cona said.

"Wait, so you believe us? How come, when we first met your friends here, they thought we were Cosplayers." Kairi asked.

"What's a Cosplayer?" Riku turned to Kairi.

"Beats me."

"Cosplayers are people who dress up as anime characters. It's for these anime conventions. We're Cosplayers. Hey, how funny was it when Hope met Riku? I mean, she's cosplaying him, and the real thing is here?" Cona asked.

"Totally not funny, Cona. I got drenched thanks to this dude." Hope growled at Riku, and he growled back.

"I'm guessing you two aren't on the best terms?" Cona asked, while giggling.

"You guessed right."

"Oh! The reason why I believe you is because I met up with Sora! I mean, the REAL Sora, not just some really good Cosplayer. And he pulled out his stinking cool Keyblade, and we went to another World, then I lost him, I found Pluto the dog, I got this letter here, I went to another World, and I got my own KEYBLADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cona took in a breath, and then showed all of them the letter.

"The Letter!" Kairi and Riku gasped.

"And you should read what's inside; it's totally mysterious and creepy."

They took the letter from Cona and read it.

"What does this mean?" Riku asked.

"I dunno. I'm just the messenger here."

"We need to find Sora! That's our priority here! Where did he go?"

"I'm sorry, I have no clue. We were in the Game Room when there was this earthquake, and then everything went dark. Then I saw a light, and the next thing I knew, as in another World, and Sora was nowhere to be found!" Cona explained.

"Then he's lost. We have to find him! He's hopeless all by himself! He needs us!" Kairi said in a worried tone.

"Where should we start? The Game Room?" Hope asked.

"No. He obviously disappeared along with Cona, but he just went to a different place. Why don't we start at home?" Riku suggested.

"HOME???? You mean Destiny Islands?! Yeah! Fine by us!" Lori, Aerie, and Cona said.

"Well, aren't we excited?" Margaret and Hope muttered to each other.

"Alright. The Gummi Ship is right next to"

"GUMMI SHIP?! We get to ride on a GUMMI SHIP?!" All four friends said together, Margaret and Hope even excited.

"This is going to be a long ride." Riku thought to himself as he led the girls to the Gummi Ship.

"Wait! I feel like we're forgetting someone again." Aerie said.

"Huh? What are you talking about? The car could only bring 5 people, not including the driver. There can't be someone else. And I don't think Uncle Shika will believe our little tale of mystic happenings." Lori said.

"No, not Uncle Shika. We forgot Dutchia!" Aerie said.

"Dutchia Optima? Oh! She's suppose to have come in another car! With all the commotion, we nearly forgot about her!" Cona said.

"What time is it!? I hope she hasn't been waiting at the water fountain very long..." Lori said.

"It's 3:15, we can still make it! To the third floor!" Hope pointed towards the elevator.

The elevator doors began to close as soon as Hope had said that. They all got up from the couch and started running for their lives towards that elevator. They started chanting inside their heads, Dutchia Optima, Dutchia Optima! There determination rose as they chanted, the doors continuing to close! (This is getting a little too weird) Finally, they were able to reach the elevator, but the challenge was if they could make it inside, or would they have to wait for the next one???(Dun, dun, DUN) No! They didn't have time to wait! They went for the kill, getting a jumping start; they thrashed their whole bodies towards the elevator. They made it!

"Who the heck is Dutchia Optima?" Riku and Kairi asked, a little scared of what they will find out.

"She's a medium."

"WHAT?"

"Just kidding! She's this totally cool person who does the most randomness stuff. She's one of our close friends." Hope said.

"If she's so close, then why did you forget her?" Riku asked.

"Quiet, boy!" Hope snapped at him.

"If you haven't noticed thus far, we're kinda forgetful people. She's the shortest out of all of us, but man is she some sort of firecracker. She's Aerie's cousin." Lori said.

"Does she look anything like you?" Kairi asked Aerie.

"She has the same color eyes as me, but that's it. I'm German, and she's Russian." Aerie replied.

"Huh, that's not surprising, from the sound of her name." Riku commented.

"I said SHUSH boy!" Hope snarled.

"What is up with you?!" Riku snarled back.

"Hey! Do I have to go back there and break it up?!" Lori asked, in an angry mother tone.

"No, mommy." Hope sneered.

"Man, you two are so thick-headed. You sound like Sora and Riku, but with much more name-calling." Kairi commented.

"Guess whose Sora?" Riku said to Hope.

"Yay, I get to be the pretty one." Hope said to Riku.

Riku stuck his tongue out at Hope, and she did the same.

"Riku? Hope? Are we gonna have to get back there?" Kairi and Lori said.

"No, mommies." Hope said, while Riku stayed silent.

"So. What floor are we on right now?" Kairi asked Cona.

"We're on the first floor. We need to get up to the third floor." Cona pushed the third floor button, and the elevator moved.

"I've got a question for both of you." Lori said.

"Huh? What is it?" Riku and Kairi asked.

"What's both of your last names?" Lori asked, eyes narrowed and focused on them.

"Oh, not this again." Margaret sighed.

"Huh. I've always wondered that too." Cona said.

"No, what's gonna end up happening is"

Kairi and Riku eyes widened, and then with a flash going across their eyes, they both went into a daze.

"Huh? What's going on?" Hope snapped her fingers in front of them.

"Are they alright?" Aerie asked.

"Yeah, but apparently they don't know their last names either. So this is what happens when their asked. Probably what's gonna happen if we ever ask Sora, whose whereabouts we do not know." Margaret said.

"We learn something new everyday, or in this case, every hour. Man, today's been exhausting." Hope said, sliding down to the ground.

"Yeah, from all the excitement, I never realized how tired I was." Aerie slid down too.

"No! If we rest now, our adrenaline won't be pumped, and we won't be able to do anything else!" Cona said, trying to pump them up again.

"But we're tired, and if you're tired, rest is best. Or else we won't be able to think straight much longer." Aerie said.

"Point. What if I got you guys some sugar? Would that help?" Cona suggested.

"You mean, PURE sugar?!" Kairi and Riku said, astonished.

"ALRIGHT! You got a deal!" Aerie and Hope said, excited with the sugar deal.

"You eat PURE sugar?!" Kairi and Riku said, even more astonished.

"Yeah, SO?" Aerie and Hope stared at them evilly.

"Uh, nothing." Kairi and Riku turned away from them.

"Here's our floor." Cona said as the doors opened.

"I think there was a coffee shop over there." Margaret pointed to the left, and off they went, with Kairi and Riku right behind them.

"Aren't we getting off track here?" Riku muttered to himself as he and Kairi followed.

The coffee shop was very small, and with an anime convention that was huge, they had a hard time getting what they wanted. Cona was able to squeeze into the crowd, and was able to maneuver her way to the sugar packets. She picked up a few, and then maneuvered her way back to her friends.

"Thanks, Cona!" Hope and Aerie said.

"Oh my God! There were so many people in there! First I got lost and found myself in the soda machine part, and then I nearly went crowding surfing all the way to the place next door! After that, I finally got to the sugar, but I had to get it before this other lady did! It was a race against time! I grabbed it and was all 'This stuff is bad for ya soul, lady.' and ran off before she could say anything." Cona panted for breath as she said that.

"I'm starting to think it was a bad idea bringing them along." Riku whispered to Kairi.

"Really? I am too. I mean, they're really funny, but do you think they could actually help us?" Kairi whispered back.

Riku stared at them for awhile. Hope and Aerie were eating (Or drinking, whatever you wanna call it) the sugar, while Cona and Lori were chanting chug, chug, at them. Everyone was laughing and having fun.

"I think they sort of balance each other out." Riku said.

"Huh? Oh, I see what you mean." Kairi replied.

"Hope has a temper, but Aerie is very calm. Lori can look at things and tries to understand a situation, and Cona is just. Well, I don't really know what Cona is, and I don't know about Dutchia Optima, either, but I'm sure they all mean well. I'm sure their bonds are very strong, and that means they must have strong hearts. I think they can deal with whatever lies in their paths." Riku said.

"How very observant of you, Riku. They're kind of like me, you, and Sora." Kairi said.

"Yeah."

"Hey, you two! Come on, we gotta go see Dutchia Optima!" Cona said, while Hope and Aerie finished their packets of sugar.

"Hey, why do you always say her last name too?" Kairi asked as they walked towards the water fountain.

"Why? Because it sounds cooler that way! Say it with us!" Cona said, starting a chant.

"Dutchia Optima!"

"Dutchia Optima!"

"Dutchia Optima!"

"DUTCHIA OPTIMA!"

"Who started that anyway?"

"Oh, she's the one that said it sounded cooler, and it just stuck." Aerie said.

"She sounds like a handful."

"Dutchia Optima!"

"Dutchia Optima!"

"Dutchia Optima!"

"DUTCHIA OPTIMA!"

"Will you guys QUIT IT!" Riku yelled.

He was getting annoyed by their chanting.

"No, no no! Keep saying my name! It rocks hard, after all. Oh, and just because of what these guys have been saying about me doesn't mean I'm a handful, dude!" a voice called out from the other side of the water fountain.

"Hey! That's Dutchia!"

"No," Dutchia jumped onto the water fountain, and ran across all the way to her friends, and then she did a Gai pose.

(Gai- from Naruto)

"It's Dutchia OPTIMA!" She said, as everyone clapped.

"Yeah, we got a handful here." Riku sighed.

"Really?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, but..."

"I think this journey might turn out to be fun." They both said.


End file.
